tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-216667862016-12-08T08:50:34.613-05:00Church of BaseballCommentary on baseball and society, baseball and philosophy, baseball and history, and baseball and baseball.Cathie Gloverhttps://plus.google.com/117089522678135038590noreply@blogger.comBlogger1476125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21666786.post-17139555746216385942016-10-28T16:42:00.001-04:002016-10-28T16:42:16.244-04:00At least they were baseball fans<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><i>Read the other parts of this series:</i><br /><i>Part 1: <a href="http://baseballchurch.blogspot.com/2016/06/baseball-is-life-during-wartime.html" target="_blank">Baseball and Life during Wartime</a></i><br /><i>Part 2: <a href="http://baseballchurch.blogspot.com/2016/07/baseball-and-life-during-peacetime.html" target="_blank">Baseball and Life during Peacetime</a></i><br /><i>Part 3: <a href="http://baseballchurch.blogspot.com/2016/08/propaganda-in-twenties.html" target="_blank">Propaganda in the Twenties</a></i><br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-BeRuM6ecYiM/WAkc120f6_I/AAAAAAAAMTA/1OSlQoXD9gY7LNWm_Xfy2XZko75wFcO5wCLcB/s1600/lf.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="286" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-BeRuM6ecYiM/WAkc120f6_I/AAAAAAAAMTA/1OSlQoXD9gY7LNWm_Xfy2XZko75wFcO5wCLcB/s320/lf.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>The 1927 Yankees are considered by many to be the greatest baseball team of all time. (I would argue that a World Series between the 1976 Reds and the 1927 Yankees, adjusting for era differences, would result in a Reds win, but I could be biased.) Murderers Row were bashing baseballs and winning World Series at a rate never before seen, and America loved them.<br /><br />It was an era of great baseball and terrible presidents. First it was Warren Harding who oversaw perhaps the most corrupt administration in US history until he dropped dead of a cerebral hemorrhage. Some speculate that his wife, fed up with his well-known womanizing, poisoned him. Harding put the federal government on a budget for the first time, which helped created the false economic prosperity of the twenties that culminated with the Great Depression. The Teapot Dome scandal, the defining event of his lethiferous presidency, leased Navy petroleum reserves to private oil companies at low rates without competitive bidding. Secretary of the Interior Albert Bacon Fall was convicted of accepting bribes from the oil companies and became the first Cabinet member to go to prison. No one was ever convicted of paying the bribes. Oil corrupts. Big Oil corrupts absolutely.<br /><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-0kgVxqjIyk8/WBOEj3y2PYI/AAAAAAAAMWE/prHASNyYV5IzOd1Cfa905BzSyEKprua7gCLcB/s1600/hoovercoolidge.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="360" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-0kgVxqjIyk8/WBOEj3y2PYI/AAAAAAAAMWE/prHASNyYV5IzOd1Cfa905BzSyEKprua7gCLcB/s640/hoovercoolidge.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">If only the Nats had started their partnership with White House Historical Association sooner, we could have the full failure trio...</td></tr></tbody></table><br />Next up came Calvin Coolidge, whose greatest sin was assembling a terrible cabinet of the wealthiest of men who put their own needs ahead of the needs of the country. Andrew Mellon reduced taxes on business and the wealthy five times during his eight years as Secretary of the Treasury, which continued us on a path towards the Great Depression. The <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=4RRyrSNhg8sC&amp;pg=PA220&amp;lpg=PA220&amp;dq=%22Never+before,+here+or+anywhere+else+has+a+government+been+so+completely+fused+with+business.%22&amp;source=bl&amp;ots=QoHHQW6bwb&amp;sig=0UruXVnADkrKxQwddaw7DjbEOBA&amp;hl=en&amp;sa=X&amp;ved=0ahUKEwjD7uLQqv7PAhVk7oMKHZAsDfIQ6AEIHjAA#v=onepage&amp;q=%22Never%20before%2C%20here%20or%20anywhere%20else%20has%20a%20government%20been%20so%20completely%20fused%20with%20business.%22&amp;f=false" target="_blank">Wall Street Journal</a> wrote, "Never before, here or anywhere else has a government been so completely fused with business." The American right too often points to the Coolidge presidency as an exemplar of small-government conservatism, ignoring what happened next: the stock market crashed only eight months after he left office. Economic booms that are followed by economic disasters are not booms at all. They are like extending a spring, only to have it snap back to small again. It's not real prosperity. But you have to be able to view the world through the lens of time, where everything that happened before affects the now, and everything that happens now affects the future. There is too much shortsightedness and microcosmic decision-making among policy elites. Some people just don't understand that what happens now was set in motion months or years or decades or centuries ago. <br /><br />Herbert Hoover followed Coolidge with more shortsightedness, maintaining the tax cutting policies of his predecessor and supporting a tariff act that greatly exacerbated the effects of the depression. The depression wasn't his fault, of course, but he failed to steer the country out of it, leading to FDR's landslide victory in 1932. He had refused to let the government intervene in fixing prices, manipulate the value of currency, or partake in deficit spending. After his defeat, he predicted the New Deal would lead to an American version of Iron Cross, First Class or Il Duce. Yeah, right.<br /><br />The twenties were an era of complete and utter corruption, with Big Business controlling the reins of government. Heard that one before?<br /><br />Perhaps the only redeeming quality of Harding and Hoover is that they were big baseball fans. Coolidge was no fan and appeared at ballgames only for political photo ops. Useless. As a Senator, Harding once organized an <a href="http://www.hardinghome.org/with-indians-cubs-world-series-matchup-set-hardings-love-of-baseball-remembered/" target="_blank">exhibition game</a> between the Cubs and a semi-pro team in Marion, Ohio during the middle of the 1920 season. Hoover was a shortstop for Stanford until an injury ended his playing days. His <a href="https://www.whitehousehistory.org/president-herbert-hoover-and-baseball" target="_blank">frequented MLB games</a> during his term as POTUS.<br /><br />The twenties were, to put it in simple terms, crazy and shortsighted. Across the Atlantic, Germany was a mess. You had the Social Democrats, democrats, and Catholic centrists trying to govern while the socialists and conservatives were trying to overthrow them, both despising the fledgling democracy. The country suffered assassination after assassination by men on the extreme right, leading the government to institute anti-terrorism laws. Berlin ordered the dissolution of the militias running rampant in Bavaria and other regions, but when the government attempted to enforce the laws against terrorism, the Bavarian right, to which Iron Cross, First Class belonged, organized a conspiracy to overthrow the government. The Kapp Putsch failed <span class="_Tgc">to establish a rightwing autocratic government in 1920, and the Beer Hall Putsch failed </span><span class="_Tgc"><span class="_Tgc">to do the same thing</span> three years later.</span><br /><br /><span class="_Tgc">By 1923, the German mark was useless. Goaded by the big industrialists and landlords who stood to gain from the tumbling mark, the government purposely let the currency collapse despite financially ruining the masses of German citizens. The destruction of the currency enabled German Big Business to wipe out its debt. Yet the masses did not realize how much the industrial tycoons, the Army, and the State were benefiting from the ruin of the currency. Had they been paying attention, they may not have been so quick to elect a dictator.</span><br /><br /><span class="_Tgc">Monetary policy across the globe was all over the place in the twenties, and none of it was very good. The US was well into its first decade of the Federal Reserve system,</span><span class="_Tgc"> a mechanism for private banks to lend funds to one another, thus ensuring there is always a flow of money. In theory, anyway. The first incarnation had some problems, to put it mildly. Under Harding, Coolidge, and Hoover (the triumvirate of pre-Great Depression failure), the Federal Reserve deliberately ignored sound empirical policy framework. Instead of focusing on money stock, price level, and other quantity theory indicators, the Fed focused on market interest rates, member bank borrowing, and commercial paper eligible for <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rediscount" target="_blank">rediscount</a>. While statistical analysis in the twenties was primitive compared to today's standards, the fact that the Fed shunned such analysis is astounding, at least in hindsight. Of course, the Fed was created as a decentralized and non-interventionist system, but by the twenties, some economists were clamoring about stabilization. They advocated that the Federal Reserve Act be amended to make price stability the main responsibility of the Fed and that a centralized authority should unify the policy actions of the individual reserve banks. Their advice went unheeded...</span><br /><br /><div style="text-align: left;">Babe Ruth was the highest paid player for thirteen years straight, starting in 1922, when he made $52,000. He would peak at $80,000 in 1930 before dropping to $35,000 in 1934. You can see the impact the Great Depression had on player salaries.&nbsp;</div><br />In 1930, the average American income was just under $2000. Ruth's salary was 40 times that and 2.4 times greater than the next highest, Rogers Hornsby, a gap that has not been reached since (Alex Rodriguez came close at 38%). Ruth put butts in seats, and Hornsby was a jerk, which may have hurt his salary a bit, but Ruth was one of the biggest stars in a country that was just coming to develop a culture of celebrity worship. When asked if he thought he deserved to be making more money than Hoover, Ruth said, “Why not? I had a better year than he did.” <br /><br />When Ruth's salary dropped to $35,000 in 1934, the average American salary had dropped to $1600. A chicken in every pot? Not even close.<br /><br />Sixty home runs! Sixty!<br /><br />Before Babe Ruth hit 29 homers in 1919, the single season record was 27, set by the Cubs' Ned Williamson in 1884. I mean, if you consider hitting a ball over the wall at Chicago Lake Front Park (dimensions: 186", CF 300" and RF 196") a home run. MLB does, but can you imagine a ballpark that small? He hit 54 in 1920 and 59 in 1921 before suffering an injury shortened season in 1922, when he <i>only</i> hit 35. He hit 41 and 46 the next two seasons but in 1925, a <a href="http://www.thisgreatgame.com/1925-baseball-history.html" target="_blank">serious intestinal issue</a> caused by his lifestyle limited him to 98 games and 25 homers. “Day and night, broads and booze,” recounted teammate Joe Dugan. In 1926, he was back to form, slugging 46 homers before that magical 1927 season.<br /><br />In 1926, a man by the name of <a href="http://sabr.org/bioproj/person/fc619643" target="_blank">Otto Hess</a> died. He was a Swiss immigrant who became a Major League Pitcher - still the only Swiss-born MLB player. He had one good season. His name will rarely come up in a discussion about baseball, nor will it come up in a discussion about almost anything, unless you're talking about <a href="http://didthetribewinlastnight.com/blog/2012/09/18/pity-poor-otto-hess/" target="_blank">wild pitches</a>. But he does have the distinction of being one of only five players to have fought in both the Spanish-American War and World War I. (The others were <a href="http://www.baseball-reference.com/bullpen/Ben_Caffyn" target="_blank">Ben Caffyn</a>, <a href="http://www.baseball-reference.com/bullpen/Jacob_Doyle" target="_blank">Jacob Doyle</a>, <a href="http://www.baseball-reference.com/bullpen/Arlie_Pond" target="_blank">Arlie Pond</a>, and <a href="http://www.baseball-reference.com/bullpen/John_Grimes" target="_blank">John Grimes</a>, who also fought in the Indian Wars. They deserve to be remembered.) Hess died after suffering for a decade with tuberculosis that he contracted while serving in France in World War I.<br /><br />Rudolf Hess, of no relation, was born into a wealthy family of German merchants living in Egypt. Upon the start of World War I, he volunteered and became an officer in the same regiment as Iron Cross, First Class, but they never met. They did, however, suffer through the same battle that saw 2,900 German soldiers die over four days. He attended some of the early meetings when Iron Cross spoke, and reports surfaced about him asking "Was this thundering orator foolish or was he the Messiah?"<br /><br />He went with Messiah, and wrote his thesis at University of Munich about his future fuhrer, entitled, "How Must the Man Be Constituted Who Will Lead Germany Back to Her Old Heights?" Translated into simpleton, that is: Make Germany Great Again.<br /><br />Hess wrote, "Where all authority has vanished, only a man of the people can establish authority...The deeper the dictator was originally rooted in the broad masses, the better he understands how to treat them psychologically, the less the workers will distrust him, the more supporters he will win among these most energetic ranks of the people. He himself has nothing in common with the mass; like every great man he is all personality...When necessity commands, he does not shrink before bloodshed. Great questions are always decided by blood and iron...The lawgiver proceeds with terrible hardness...As the need arises, he can trample them [the people] with the boots of a grenadier..."<br /><br /><i>He himself has nothing in common with the mass...</i><br /><br /><i>Like every great man, he is all personality... </i><br /><br />"Where the salvation of the nation is in question, he does not disdain utilizing the weapons of the adversary, demagogy, slogans, processions, etc."<br /><br /><i>Make My Country Great Again.</i> <br /><br />"Down with the traitors of the Fatherland! Down with the November criminals!" Such were the cries from the crowds of people who watched these rightwing demagogues give violent speeches against the national government. <br /><br /><i>Lock her up.</i><br /><br />Propaganda. How easily the human mind is manipulated. How easily that is remedied, but the masses are too intellectually lazy to learn. <br /><br />It continues to blow my mind that people CHOOSE dictatorships. These are people who either benefit directly from such regimes (money, power, or both) or those who really aren't all that bright and can't grasp the implications of such an arrangement. Most often it's the former convincing the latter to go along with it.<br /><br />After the Beer Hall Putsch, Iron Cross, First Class went to trial and spent nine months in a jail for the privileged. The socialists who had also revolted at a different place, including Rosa Luxemburg, were executed without trial. That was the privilege of being rightwing in an anti-government climate, where conservatives defended the Kaiser and the war and held the economic power in the country. Their wealth subsidized their political parties and the press.<br /><br />At the trial, Iron Cross, First Class was defiantly proud of his rebellion, stating, "I wanted to be the destroyer of Marxism." His hatred for democracy, Marxism, and Jews was captured in a book he wrote while in prison and had wanted to call "Four and a Half Years of Struggle against Lies, Stupidity, and Cowardice." It sold 9,473 copies in 1925.<br /><br />In 1930, the year Babe Ruth was paid $80,000 to play baseball, "My Struggle" sold 54,086 copies. By the time Iron Cross, First Class was elected by a grossly deceived population as Chancellor of Germany, the book sold a million copies, earning $300,000 dollars for its author in a time of global economic chaos.<br /><br /><i>To be continued...</i><br /><br /></div>Cathie Gloverhttps://plus.google.com/117089522678135038590noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21666786.post-35442091886519336412016-10-20T12:38:00.001-04:002016-10-20T14:17:18.153-04:00Half a life ago<p dir="ltr">I was in college the last time the Indians were in the World Series. Remember that team? I can still name the whole lineup - Thome at first, Baerga at second, Vizquel at short, Fryman at third, Manny, Kenny, and Joey called Albert manning the outfield, Sandy behind the plate... Oh wait, Baerga and Belle were gone by then, and Fryman didn't come until the next year.</p><p dir="ltr">Funny how fragile memory is. I should have at least remembered that Matt Williams was at third.</p><p dir="ltr">Those were some great teams - five first place finishes in a row, culminating with a 1997 pennant. I was studying in Luxembourg that autumn, the junior year that changed everything. I didn't get to watch any of the playoffs, not that I can remember anyway, but we did get to see a few World Series games. Back then, we had to walk uphill both ways in the snow to get to a baseball game, and MLB.TV hadn't been invented yet.</p><p dir="ltr">We watched a couple of games at my host family's house. The games were condensed, so they lasted less than two hours. I tried not to find out the scores before watching, but sometimes a student would give it away. Kramer!</p><p dir="ltr">My host father is, well, a racist. He watched a game with us and I'll never forget his amusement at the fact that Devon White was a black guy with the last name White. It is, in fact, my strongest memory of the entire World Series. How strange is that?</p><p dir="ltr">Other games we watched at a local bar right next to our school. It was full of old, grumpy men and my housemate and I were two college girls demanding that an old, grumpy bartender play a foreign sport that nobody watched there on the single, small screen television in the corner of the bar. I think we watched two games in there under the unwelcoming eyes of the bar's aged patrons. But he let us watch.</p><p dir="ltr">The things you do for baseball.</p><p dir="ltr">I don't remember too much about the specifics of the Series, but I do remember the disappointment as the fake team with the rent-a-players and the evil owner poured onto the field in triumph. I had liked the Indians as the "other" Ohio team and had even seen a game at Municipal Stadium back when they were ripe for a comedy to be made about them. That Game 7 loss was tough.</p><p dir="ltr">A Cubs-Indians World Series is gonna be classic. Hopefully, Cleveland won't be on the losing end this time.</p>Cathie Gloverhttps://plus.google.com/117089522678135038590noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21666786.post-20146490938638422672016-10-11T13:01:00.001-04:002016-10-11T13:01:48.800-04:00Z is for Zombie<p dir="ltr">Oh, the suffering! Droopy eyes, foggy brain, yawning mouth opening and closing like Chris Christie's refrigerator, swells of coffee useless against the ravages of sleep deprivation. But for what, I ask?</p><p dir="ltr">Ratings!</p><p dir="ltr">Ratings? How? When most of the weary country partakes in nocturnal routine, slumbering while the boys of summer are lumbering through a California autumn, how can ratings be more than a pipe dream conjured by the opiates of greed and bad decisions?</p><p dir="ltr">Three ay em, the wee hours, dreamland, a pipe dream for the diehard. The diehard is dying. While the powers that be have no problem starting the "lesser" teams at lesser times, we lesser people are to choose between the sacred advent of our chosen religion and the debilitating case of lesser sleep.</p><p dir="ltr">The woe of bias, of favoritism, a team of interest, yes, but not three hours into a new day, not even after 108 years (108 stitches)...why must we the people of baseball suffer so? </p><p dir="ltr">I hope the Cubs lose to spite MLB.</p>Cathie Gloverhttps://plus.google.com/117089522678135038590noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21666786.post-62473339362411801322016-09-27T17:28:00.001-04:002016-09-27T18:23:48.159-04:00Refugee<p dir="ltr">I have spent most of my adult life working with democracy and peace activists. These include people who have been imprisoned, tortured, exiled, whose family and friends have been destroyed by dictators or war or both, whose lives have been wrecked and sometimes rebuilt and sometimes wrecked again. It's not a pretty world we live in, but it's one we can make better.</p><p dir="ltr">I was thinking about Jose Fernandez, as all of us have been, and marveling at what he went through to get here, a refugee from an oppressive regime who risked his life to immigrate to the United States, who traveled here illegally and ended up becoming an American citizen. His name was well-known to the baseball world, but maybe not to the casual fan, until fate put him on a late night boat ride. So many Cuban ballplayers have risked their lives for a sip of the American Dream. We let them, because they are good at sports, but many others are turned away. Things are getting easier since relations with Cuba are thawing, and ballplayers will soon be able to play baseball in the US without risking their lives. It has been incredible to witness this turn of events, to watch history unfold, and I look forward to visiting Cuba one day in the near future.</p><p dir="ltr">Why do we value the lives of sports figures more than others? What if Jose had been a doctor instead, or an engineer, or a teacher? Would we mourn him, praise his daring journey to this nation of immigrants, congratulate him on becoming a citizen? Or would we call him a rapist and murderer and call for tougher measures to prevent his kind from getting in?</p><p dir="ltr">Given that most Americans have never left the country, let alone visited a refugee camp, they can't even fathom the conditions in which millions of human beings find themselves today, through no fault of their own. More than 60 million people are displaced in this world, meaning they have escaped war or oppression and have no home to return to. Most of them live in refugee camps, which can be tent cities or&#160;actual buildings, depending on where in the world and who are the people. The lucky few establish permanent residency somewhere else or even citizenship.</p><p dir="ltr">One stunning example of this contrast can be found in Lebanon, where I spent about a year over a two year period working with civil society organizations. After the Turks committed genocide against the Armenians in the early twentieth century, many Armenians found refuge in Beirut. They established a refugee camp that today is just a Beirut neighborhood, albeit with Armenian flavor. The Palestinians did not fare so well during the establishment and expansion of Israel after World War II. They live in dilapidated structures and enjoy few basic rights like citizenship or employment in many professions, as they have been restricted to menial labor. Poverty is rampant; the camps are often the sites of violence and bloodshed. You can go to the Armenian neighborhood of Bourj Hammoud to the infamous Palestinian camps of Sabra and Chatilla in a few minutes by car, yet they are two different worlds. Lebanon also has a million Syrian refugees (the Lebanese population is only four million), as well as refugees from Iraq. And that's just a tiny swath of land barely visible on a world map.</p><p dir="ltr">If your heart breaks for Jose Fernandez, if you are sending your "thoughts and prayers" to him and his family, please take some time, too, to think about so many others who have been through something similar as he had and how so many meet tragic ends that go unheralded. Maybe Jose's senseless death can help us to remember them, perhaps finding one ray of light in all the darkness. What is a life, after all, if it does not beget good? Why did we care so deeply about his death, though few of us knew him in life? Because humanity is deep down our true nature. In these times when it seems as if we are surrounded by cruelty and evil, we recognized good in that smile, and even the hardest of hearts felt a stirring, a reminder that the world is flawed but can be good, <i>is</i> probably more good than not.</p><p dir="ltr">I have to wonder if more people would care about Syrian refugees if they were good at sports. Sadly, I think the answer is "yes." Let's change that. I have to believe we can. </p>Cathie Gloverhttps://plus.google.com/117089522678135038590noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21666786.post-16182355357645836212016-09-27T12:14:00.001-04:002016-09-27T13:21:52.263-04:00Something<p dir="ltr">Well, now, this is the part of the season when it should be exciting, but the races were so dull this year you'd think they just wanted to avoid any discussion about "race" like most of white America...</p><p dir="ltr">I'm rooting for the Orioles but they seem hell bent on October vacations. The Nats are all injured now and to be honest I think they were the only team who could have beaten the Cubs in the NLCS. I don't want the Cubs because it would break tradition, and besides, they are in the Reds' division and should be rooted against like they have goat herpes.</p><p dir="ltr">Of course I will watch the games but the Reds were so awful this year that I lost a lot of interest in baseball in general. I mean, it's one thing to not make the playoffs, but it's another to have the worst pitching staff in the history of baseball and to watch lead after lead blown by a bullpen worthy of the '62 Mets.</p><p dir="ltr">I stopped going to Nats games because of the fans and because of the ridiculous ticket prices. I have lost a lot of enthusiasm for that team and doubt it comes back unless they start improving the baseball experience at the ballpark, meaning less social activities and more baseball watching, more Washington baseball history around the ballpark, encouraging people to stay in their seats and stay for nine innings, and less faux patriotism and conservative back-patting. Sometimes it seems like baseball is an afterthought at Nats Park.</p><p dir="ltr">Despite Cubs being favorites, it's more of the same old same old in terms of playoff teams. Seven of the last ten World Series have been won by three teams. I'm sure if the Reds won three or four I wouldn't be complaining, but yawn.</p><p dir="ltr">We went to OPACY last week and the stadium was half empty but it was still a good crowd and that ballpark is magical. </p><p dir="ltr">This blog post is about nothing. </p>Cathie Gloverhttps://plus.google.com/117089522678135038590noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21666786.post-64312197053140532182016-08-04T19:01:00.001-04:002016-08-04T19:01:45.525-04:00The Sacred and the Profane (Part 1)<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-5plAX0Oodxs/V0ONqrhD9DI/AAAAAAAAJ0s/vP7ropED_PIE4nJrSKOWyajpkpu3z8brgCLcB/s1600/DSC_0382.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-5plAX0Oodxs/V0ONqrhD9DI/AAAAAAAAJ0s/vP7ropED_PIE4nJrSKOWyajpkpu3z8brgCLcB/s640/DSC_0382.JPG" width="640" /></a></div><br />I had been there once before, in another lifetime, but even time could not erase the memories of that trip. It's almost cliche to call it a cathedral, but that's what it is, something sacred to our hearts and our identities as Americans, even those who don't know it, those who try to tear down sacred things, be it mentally or physically or with cliches and overkill, or those who reconstruct history so that the things we hold dear don't matter anymore.<br /><br />They do. They do matter more than ever as we lose our identities in the soulless system we have constructed for our lives, one devoid of meaning, one that sneers at "sacred" and "tradition" and seeks always for new new new and buy buy buy and change for the sake of change only, our sad society of marketing and isolation.<br /><br />Even the names of the streets surrounding Fenway Park are sacred. Ipswich. Landsdowne. Yawkey.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-RFF__fb-Xl0/V0OQLrc3PYI/AAAAAAAAJ04/TqhpLYMJ-Y841o_KiOacxmc6voPJR06sACLcB/s1600/DSC_0567.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-RFF__fb-Xl0/V0OQLrc3PYI/AAAAAAAAJ04/TqhpLYMJ-Y841o_KiOacxmc6voPJR06sACLcB/s640/DSC_0567.JPG" width="640" /></a></div><br />Of course we know the <a href="https://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2015/12/06/thomas-yawkey-way-represents-century-boston-and-don-need-yawkey-way/5onMIw3vE6cNAyeZXs9NAN/story.html" target="_blank">racist legacy</a> of Tom Yawkey. From a Globe columnist: <br /><blockquote class="tr_bq">That the Red Sox are so central to the city’s psyche makes it even more urgent for Boston to act now to banish this legacy of racism.</blockquote>The Red Sox were the last team to integrate, this we know. Jackie Robinson and two other black players had a tryout for the Sox in 1945 but were not signed. This we also know. <br /><br />But the Red Sox would not even be there were it not for Tom Yawkey. To call it Yawkey Way is not to overlook his glaring flaws. To pretend it never happened? That is to forget history, and to forget history is to repeat it.<br /><br />Let he who is without sin cast the first stone.<br /><br />Wait...I just can't. Just rename the damn street and let's move on. This isn't change for the sake of change or new new new. This is taking the profanity out of the sacred. The guy was an active racist at a time when our moral values as a society were changing for the better. As the Civil Rights Movement raged on, Yawkey continued to defy progress.<br /><br /><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ngrSBmdLMvU/V4qpBO_JJsI/AAAAAAAAKfM/IcA9N_5C9lUxwPZOuBwUbKEEgup3mN-DACLcB/s1600/DSC_0585.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ngrSBmdLMvU/V4qpBO_JJsI/AAAAAAAAKfM/IcA9N_5C9lUxwPZOuBwUbKEEgup3mN-DACLcB/s640/DSC_0585.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr></tbody></table>How about Ted Williams Way?<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-8HI7o2hAxP8/V0OQMF7AHmI/AAAAAAAAJ1A/AFJepCcSJ7ww0krNiZXU98OAZL6bAKuUwCLcB/s1600/DSC_0568.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-8HI7o2hAxP8/V0OQMF7AHmI/AAAAAAAAJ1A/AFJepCcSJ7ww0krNiZXU98OAZL6bAKuUwCLcB/s640/DSC_0568.JPG" width="640" /></a></div><br />Fenway Park. Home of the Boston Red Sox. These are magical words to a baseball fan. This is a cathedral. This is sacred. You can roll your eyes at the use of "cathedral" or "sacred," but that just makes something wrong with you. The language of baseball is full of cliches, yes, but no other game has had more effect on our language than baseball. The cliches are cliches because media personalities are not as skilled in the art of language as they once were. Think about it. What distinguishes a Vin Scully or a Marty Brennaman from a Bob Carpenter or a Thom Brennaman is a mastery of the English language. Some creative chap came up with the terms "can of corn," "bush leaguer," and "hot corner." Have any good terms entered the baseball lexicon in the last ten years? We can't even come up with good nicknames anymore. (A-Rod, K-Rod, etc.)<br /><br />Fenway Park is not a cliche.<br /><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-VJHtkDusbkQ/V0OQMBeWx6I/AAAAAAAAJ08/yy0VmZDOBTsAY6zUcdLUL06js78mgR0AwCLcB/s1600/DSC_0566.JPG" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-VJHtkDusbkQ/V0OQMBeWx6I/AAAAAAAAJ08/yy0VmZDOBTsAY6zUcdLUL06js78mgR0AwCLcB/s640/DSC_0566.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Playing the Indians is just a coincidence </td></tr></tbody></table><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-sgaBF9Sqkco/V4rD6mfvi_I/AAAAAAAAKfc/7n0UwMM2agQ9HDJt1fu1e7s4fRz28wnBACLcB/s1600/DSC_0583.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-sgaBF9Sqkco/V4rD6mfvi_I/AAAAAAAAKfc/7n0UwMM2agQ9HDJt1fu1e7s4fRz28wnBACLcB/s320/DSC_0583.JPG" width="213" /></a>We tore our country down and put up corporate chains and strip malls and housing developments to isolate ourselves from each other. They tried to tear down this ballpark but the people said no. The people. Because when does it stop?<br /><br />There's a reason populism reared its ugly head in this election cycle. People think Sanders or Trump are going to give them back what they think politicians took from them. But politicians didn't take from them. Corporations did. And the people let them. Fenway is one of the few relics left from a time when our communities and cities had an identity, before there was a Starbucks on every corner and people got excited when a Five Guys came into their neighborhood. You don't think it matters, but it does. There is a soullessness to Americans today, an emptiness, excused away by "chemical imbalances" like depression or ADHD, but these are really a result of a crisis of identity. Hence the reason people cling so desperately to tribalism and ideology and whatever is trendy and how they fall so easily for marketing and propaganda. They feel an intense need to belong to something, to identify with something, anything, to fill the hole where meaning should be.<br /><br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-_ryQ5YImVH4/V0OQNVgRFtI/AAAAAAAAJ1E/XTAWIA5LTcAXWmzMV6S6kVeQ7hBxZj_jwCLcB/s1600/DSC_0571.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-_ryQ5YImVH4/V0OQNVgRFtI/AAAAAAAAJ1E/XTAWIA5LTcAXWmzMV6S6kVeQ7hBxZj_jwCLcB/s640/DSC_0571.JPG" width="640" /></a></div><br />Fenway means something to people. Ballparks and baseball mean something to people. Having something stand for so long makes it a part of a culture and gives a society identity. The Red Sox cap might as well be a City of Boston uniform. The team is as much a part of Boston as Guinness and cah pahks. Frankly, I'm jealous. Riverfront Stadium wasn't the prettiest park, but it was a part of my childhood and part of my identity. I'm also jealous of the kids who are growing up with GABp and the Banks area. What a great job they've done around the ballpark. I hope those kids don't suffer the sight of their ballpark being torn down. Maybe we'll regain some sense by the time they reach that age. Hope springs eternal.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-KD9UwUwO5aY/V0OQPo6fRXI/AAAAAAAAJ1I/B8X6gAdZtgU650175sB3_pheaYv_7okhACLcB/s1600/DSC_0572.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-KD9UwUwO5aY/V0OQPo6fRXI/AAAAAAAAJ1I/B8X6gAdZtgU650175sB3_pheaYv_7okhACLcB/s640/DSC_0572.JPG" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-PT5v4EcvCeY/V0OQP6BwnGI/AAAAAAAAJ1M/ncE8zbE6VXUAVtwA6U2hWZWY-O6OIojEgCLcB/s1600/DSC_0574.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-PT5v4EcvCeY/V0OQP6BwnGI/AAAAAAAAJ1M/ncE8zbE6VXUAVtwA6U2hWZWY-O6OIojEgCLcB/s640/DSC_0574.JPG" width="426" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/--hNZSGeINpU/V0OQQ6S3RnI/AAAAAAAAJ1Q/irkSDsRsBPw-WjYWmjkMNdYPYhECwtRdgCLcB/s1600/DSC_0577.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/--hNZSGeINpU/V0OQQ6S3RnI/AAAAAAAAJ1Q/irkSDsRsBPw-WjYWmjkMNdYPYhECwtRdgCLcB/s640/DSC_0577.JPG" width="640" /></a></div><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-OeyIJxdjEO4/V0OQSPcJSdI/AAAAAAAAJ1U/ijLjVBj-xJcLFH1ncw7iAuGCLIeBuz1bwCLcB/s1600/DSC_0578.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-OeyIJxdjEO4/V0OQSPcJSdI/AAAAAAAAJ1U/ijLjVBj-xJcLFH1ncw7iAuGCLIeBuz1bwCLcB/s640/DSC_0578.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The first World Series</td></tr></tbody></table>The butterflies-in-stomach feeling that I get when I go to most ballparks (Nats Park, Citi Field, and Target Field are notable exceptions) was more pronounced when I went to Fenway in May. We took a tour on a Saturday morning before a game started at 4pm. We were going to the game the next day. It was fun to climb around the ballpark without any people in the stands. Here are some pics from the tour:<br /><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Z4P2dcLd-mw/V6O_g_wXLyI/AAAAAAAAKqA/Lh18Y25P8nYtETI8T9Phcb_4G0btO-HNwCLcB/s1600/DSC_0582.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Z4P2dcLd-mw/V6O_g_wXLyI/AAAAAAAAKqA/Lh18Y25P8nYtETI8T9Phcb_4G0btO-HNwCLcB/s640/DSC_0582.JPG" width="426" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Haha, losers!</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-NDU3-Rzv35M/V6O_i-pigrI/AAAAAAAAKqE/wCtkvpOyR0cnRQLX_zPNp38s0mKJ5ChwgCLcB/s1600/DSC_0586.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-NDU3-Rzv35M/V6O_i-pigrI/AAAAAAAAKqE/wCtkvpOyR0cnRQLX_zPNp38s0mKJ5ChwgCLcB/s640/DSC_0586.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Even the restrooms are sponsored.</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-xykK2DjEFDA/V6O_-qwtQsI/AAAAAAAAKqI/Pdss37YPJcIUnt1x8D1pAeYJRuFXqlHuACLcB/s1600/DSC_0587.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-xykK2DjEFDA/V6O_-qwtQsI/AAAAAAAAKqI/Pdss37YPJcIUnt1x8D1pAeYJRuFXqlHuACLcB/s640/DSC_0587.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">There is something mysterious about an empty ballpark.</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-mKrotmiEalk/V6PAQzKMZUI/AAAAAAAAKqQ/6f1A0lx55_AeFzj6KnFOthKL4cdslZidgCLcB/s1600/DSC_0591.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-mKrotmiEalk/V6PAQzKMZUI/AAAAAAAAKqQ/6f1A0lx55_AeFzj6KnFOthKL4cdslZidgCLcB/s640/DSC_0591.JPG" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-rypGNpqs3hs/V6PARwJvWyI/AAAAAAAAKqU/zPD3QxckG5AcGLmePzivbi6CnM2TgmGxgCLcB/s1600/DSC_0594.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-rypGNpqs3hs/V6PARwJvWyI/AAAAAAAAKqU/zPD3QxckG5AcGLmePzivbi6CnM2TgmGxgCLcB/s640/DSC_0594.JPG" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-NPS8bjwupzE/V6PAjuQbEuI/AAAAAAAAKqk/wb4RC3ctwpQ1IEh53dE_0G36-NkgqbIFACLcB/s1600/DSC_0597.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-NPS8bjwupzE/V6PAjuQbEuI/AAAAAAAAKqk/wb4RC3ctwpQ1IEh53dE_0G36-NkgqbIFACLcB/s640/DSC_0597.JPG" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-XRxFcwJFfFw/V6PAjKZ2rNI/AAAAAAAAKqc/bKTM7J1O32EtV6pO6PSdpXnVKJPOmaNKQCLcB/s1600/DSC_0599.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-XRxFcwJFfFw/V6PAjKZ2rNI/AAAAAAAAKqc/bKTM7J1O32EtV6pO6PSdpXnVKJPOmaNKQCLcB/s640/DSC_0599.JPG" width="640" /></a></div><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-xeJT81SCDEc/V6PAjldaxuI/AAAAAAAAKqg/gUvKsYE__cA-Jhs2qnfP3Q5eT-ib6EneACLcB/s1600/DSC_0604.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-xeJT81SCDEc/V6PAjldaxuI/AAAAAAAAKqg/gUvKsYE__cA-Jhs2qnfP3Q5eT-ib6EneACLcB/s640/DSC_0604.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">These have to be uncomfortable sitting there for nine innings. Or even one.</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-bZysJVxxs-s/V6PA0TWs62I/AAAAAAAAKqw/37ix7H3dPJQmwaltE-Y21d87HQJ9YgWdgCLcB/s1600/DSC_0608.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-bZysJVxxs-s/V6PA0TWs62I/AAAAAAAAKqw/37ix7H3dPJQmwaltE-Y21d87HQJ9YgWdgCLcB/s640/DSC_0608.JPG" width="640" /></a></div><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-RA4Zg8dueEs/V6PBIJ8zb0I/AAAAAAAAKrA/yNUNRm_qPh8PTXOtBC7bYjxBz-RHnyGawCLcB/s1600/DSC_0624.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-RA4Zg8dueEs/V6PBIJ8zb0I/AAAAAAAAKrA/yNUNRm_qPh8PTXOtBC7bYjxBz-RHnyGawCLcB/s640/DSC_0624.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Seems to be as famous as the ballpark.</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-_61uL3s1cfQ/V6PBGbqN49I/AAAAAAAAKq4/zObDmVL8KXU9UwcbbotxlicolSnknJrOwCLcB/s1600/DSC_0625.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-_61uL3s1cfQ/V6PBGbqN49I/AAAAAAAAKq4/zObDmVL8KXU9UwcbbotxlicolSnknJrOwCLcB/s640/DSC_0625.JPG" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-N1SKvvn-iwI/V6PBif_jWsI/AAAAAAAAKrI/vfG1C5t9uPAk4zX_3AprwV88XXit4jOzQCLcB/s1600/DSC_0628.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-N1SKvvn-iwI/V6PBif_jWsI/AAAAAAAAKrI/vfG1C5t9uPAk4zX_3AprwV88XXit4jOzQCLcB/s640/DSC_0628.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The reason people think the Sox won that series...</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-548tEeVvZOs/V6PBirARFPI/AAAAAAAAKrM/wfAgr9VIRoouL32K_zUcewb_ItkUdElVwCLcB/s1600/DSC_0629.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-548tEeVvZOs/V6PBirARFPI/AAAAAAAAKrM/wfAgr9VIRoouL32K_zUcewb_ItkUdElVwCLcB/s640/DSC_0629.JPG" width="426" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-3vx7TiTDI7Q/V6PBjRf2AjI/AAAAAAAAKrQ/5msopP4llfgHRB04yynX3Eub6R8ULnaBwCLcB/s1600/DSC_0630.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-3vx7TiTDI7Q/V6PBjRf2AjI/AAAAAAAAKrQ/5msopP4llfgHRB04yynX3Eub6R8ULnaBwCLcB/s640/DSC_0630.JPG" width="640" /></a></div><br /><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-KHV7foZwJgM/V6PAztePtcI/AAAAAAAAKqo/WVkUnQkOZjQ1Lt9buvl5bQr8UwJMOTQcQCLcB/s1600/DSC_0615.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-KHV7foZwJgM/V6PAztePtcI/AAAAAAAAKqo/WVkUnQkOZjQ1Lt9buvl5bQr8UwJMOTQcQCLcB/s640/DSC_0615.JPG" width="640" /></a> <br /><br /><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-L5NBpeUEhl8/V6PAzY55qPI/AAAAAAAAKqs/JPMCnqVT0j4dkFESjYtpc7xGFB60vHubQCLcB/s1600/DSC_0616.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-L5NBpeUEhl8/V6PAzY55qPI/AAAAAAAAKqs/JPMCnqVT0j4dkFESjYtpc7xGFB60vHubQCLcB/s640/DSC_0616.JPG" width="640" /></a><br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-oXKyrueLH9w/V6PBlyf3KMI/AAAAAAAAKrY/hAb1e1w3YdY57V1sq0F0yYL1OPg89zfXwCLcB/s1600/DSC_0632.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-oXKyrueLH9w/V6PBlyf3KMI/AAAAAAAAKrY/hAb1e1w3YdY57V1sq0F0yYL1OPg89zfXwCLcB/s640/DSC_0632.JPG" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-s5fqOgZAq5s/V6PBk3pAGYI/AAAAAAAAKrU/92ZAhfd51E4ncyg6pqkiYZvysA76H9HfwCLcB/s1600/DSC_0634.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-s5fqOgZAq5s/V6PBk3pAGYI/AAAAAAAAKrU/92ZAhfd51E4ncyg6pqkiYZvysA76H9HfwCLcB/s640/DSC_0634.JPG" width="640" /></a></div><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-8onN-H1Bz2I/V6PBm-EU-qI/AAAAAAAAKrc/ztH1nLRCfJwHKX2wMbDhuh-gmht7qldqwCLcB/s1600/DSC_0638.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-8onN-H1Bz2I/V6PBm-EU-qI/AAAAAAAAKrc/ztH1nLRCfJwHKX2wMbDhuh-gmht7qldqwCLcB/s640/DSC_0638.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">They have their own garden. That would be an awesome job!</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-g5zDu4HxhEQ/V6PCC04al3I/AAAAAAAAKrs/LrOm1pCGFOEJd5P0BTABwVcbgfc_bcVOwCLcB/s1600/DSC_0641.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-g5zDu4HxhEQ/V6PCC04al3I/AAAAAAAAKrs/LrOm1pCGFOEJd5P0BTABwVcbgfc_bcVOwCLcB/s640/DSC_0641.JPG" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-jLcy3eAuN_8/V6PCCp-vWAI/AAAAAAAAKro/2HrOzpWellg8gNhBL9zZcfYoc6OSwMGlQCLcB/s1600/DSC_0644.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-jLcy3eAuN_8/V6PCCp-vWAI/AAAAAAAAKro/2HrOzpWellg8gNhBL9zZcfYoc6OSwMGlQCLcB/s640/DSC_0644.JPG" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-yRy-rqEL778/V6PCCY1wFII/AAAAAAAAKrk/Rsj6m08MACYq4El8_UsjL0I3Utx0hvQhQCLcB/s1600/DSC_0650.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-yRy-rqEL778/V6PCCY1wFII/AAAAAAAAKrk/Rsj6m08MACYq4El8_UsjL0I3Utx0hvQhQCLcB/s640/DSC_0650.JPG" width="640" /></a></div><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-z6Ab3u3hUxk/V6PCEQHoh-I/AAAAAAAAKrw/ca5wExnuD-AMzQWEt5OhQLPnqL1hEIC4ACLcB/s1600/DSC_0651.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-z6Ab3u3hUxk/V6PCEQHoh-I/AAAAAAAAKrw/ca5wExnuD-AMzQWEt5OhQLPnqL1hEIC4ACLcB/s640/DSC_0651.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">500 footer</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ntAP7OoncXw/V6PCFf9Bn9I/AAAAAAAAKr0/fXYVkMEVtT0ZuYQoAElXFhH8uQONLdNUgCLcB/s1600/DSC_0655.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ntAP7OoncXw/V6PCFf9Bn9I/AAAAAAAAKr0/fXYVkMEVtT0ZuYQoAElXFhH8uQONLdNUgCLcB/s640/DSC_0655.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The meager museum room made me appreciate the Reds Hall of Fame Museum even more.</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ya0bGk0-Ss4/V6PCGdKkNLI/AAAAAAAAKr4/ZVdF_x1dIucHWKFdLKer1jnJjAegBEncACLcB/s1600/DSC_0656.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ya0bGk0-Ss4/V6PCGdKkNLI/AAAAAAAAKr4/ZVdF_x1dIucHWKFdLKer1jnJjAegBEncACLcB/s640/DSC_0656.JPG" width="640" /></a></div><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Gl9t1LZU1_M/V6PCIXc41yI/AAAAAAAAKr8/wRf6AE7z7aodq3ilutenIj1uJgADCQCUACLcB/s1600/DSC_0657.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Gl9t1LZU1_M/V6PCIXc41yI/AAAAAAAAKr8/wRf6AE7z7aodq3ilutenIj1uJgADCQCUACLcB/s640/DSC_0657.JPG" width="426" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Put him in the Hall!</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ZRG0vzDmiNY/V6PCLPRmAqI/AAAAAAAAKsA/Fln_cFM_lt46b7vg63fUCrefrhpJgqXJgCLcB/s1600/DSC_0658.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ZRG0vzDmiNY/V6PCLPRmAqI/AAAAAAAAKsA/Fln_cFM_lt46b7vg63fUCrefrhpJgqXJgCLcB/s640/DSC_0658.JPG" width="426" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-3zUW8q945NY/V6PCLYqt7EI/AAAAAAAAKsE/AN2jE5viXicVgwepIIC9489xEWS-dhQuACLcB/s1600/DSC_0659.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-3zUW8q945NY/V6PCLYqt7EI/AAAAAAAAKsE/AN2jE5viXicVgwepIIC9489xEWS-dhQuACLcB/s640/DSC_0659.JPG" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-JPzzOK_T9Y8/V6PCjDuPmJI/AAAAAAAAKsY/8FNPezQRAYsf3TT9l0TNEo4RBYBGd7xyACLcB/s1600/DSC_0660.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-JPzzOK_T9Y8/V6PCjDuPmJI/AAAAAAAAKsY/8FNPezQRAYsf3TT9l0TNEo4RBYBGd7xyACLcB/s640/DSC_0660.JPG" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-otzXiTI2Rzg/V6PCgICKZKI/AAAAAAAAKsU/LOcma9ozhR0pv7PcyLdELhgUo74ZvIQFQCLcB/s1600/DSC_0661.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-otzXiTI2Rzg/V6PCgICKZKI/AAAAAAAAKsU/LOcma9ozhR0pv7PcyLdELhgUo74ZvIQFQCLcB/s640/DSC_0661.JPG" width="426" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-aFUiugUWMp0/V6PCgMWaSKI/AAAAAAAAKsQ/KAII0Ujbxn4vVLW2DX6maNLkxyGTztqYwCLcB/s1600/DSC_0666.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-aFUiugUWMp0/V6PCgMWaSKI/AAAAAAAAKsQ/KAII0Ujbxn4vVLW2DX6maNLkxyGTztqYwCLcB/s640/DSC_0666.JPG" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-XG0J_TS0rIw/V6PCly0i9AI/AAAAAAAAKsc/Y8biX_LVoQUEfv3gU0s-qLJqx37xB9ZMwCLcB/s1600/DSC_0669.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-XG0J_TS0rIw/V6PCly0i9AI/AAAAAAAAKsc/Y8biX_LVoQUEfv3gU0s-qLJqx37xB9ZMwCLcB/s640/DSC_0669.JPG" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-KHV7foZwJgM/V6PAztePtcI/AAAAAAAAKqo/WVkUnQkOZjQ1Lt9buvl5bQr8UwJMOTQcQCLcB/s1600/DSC_0615.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><br /></a></div>&nbsp;To be continued...<br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-L5NBpeUEhl8/V6PAzY55qPI/AAAAAAAAKqs/JPMCnqVT0j4dkFESjYtpc7xGFB60vHubQCLcB/s1600/DSC_0616.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><br /></a></div><br /></div>Cathie Gloverhttps://plus.google.com/117089522678135038590noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21666786.post-84495682231988258362016-08-01T20:00:00.001-04:002016-08-01T20:00:13.656-04:00Propaganda in the Twenties<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Lfii8yIj68s/V41lKwENwdI/AAAAAAAAKfw/5Rzby4JB0owxe8OfppPJ6B9xr-nM6nR4QCLcB/s1600/1024x1024.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="326" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Lfii8yIj68s/V41lKwENwdI/AAAAAAAAKfw/5Rzby4JB0owxe8OfppPJ6B9xr-nM6nR4QCLcB/s640/1024x1024.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><a href="http://baseballchurch.blogspot.com/2016/06/baseball-is-life-during-wartime.html" target="_blank">Part 1 of this series</a><br /><a href="http://baseballchurch.blogspot.com/2016/07/baseball-and-life-during-peacetime.html" target="_blank">Part 2 of this series</a><br /><br />Part 3:<br /><br />You have to understand what propaganda is to grasp just how dangerous it is. But you also have to learn to recognize it when you see it so you don't fall victim to it.<br /><br />If you are reading this, you probably have fallen victim to propaganda. If you've ever purchased something you have seen in an ad, you are a victim of propaganda.<br /><br />The word first came into use in the seventeenth century as the Catholic Church was trying to recover from the Protestant schism. (If you're Catholic you are probably familiar with the <span class="_Tgc">Congregation for the Propagation of the Faith.) Of course, it wasn't the first time propaganda was used. You can find recorded instances dating back to ancient Athens. You know about Greek theater - but did you know it was very often used as propaganda? Of course you do know if you know anything at all about ancient Greek theater. Of course you do. And those who don't? Shame on you! Ancient Greece is part of American history, after all.</span><br /><br /><span class="_Tgc">The twenties were a time when propaganda was becoming its own kind of institution, a time when Edward Bernays had yet to overthrow governments with US taxpayer dollars but was still selling you soap and cigarettes with his uncle Freud's psychology theories, his uncle, father of modern psychology, the man who theorized about the id and the ego.</span><br /><br /><span class="_Tgc">Ego has, for some reason, become synonymous for narcissism and self-importance, but that is not the original meaning of the word. The "ego" simply means "self." More specifically, it's the part of the mind that mediates between the conscience and the unconscience. It's what gives a person a sense of identity.</span><br /><span class="_Tgc"><br /></span><span class="_Tgc">Then again, psychology itself is misunderstood. You can thank American pop psychologists whose egos in the general sense of the word reduced the real science of psychology to a pseudoscience, a grand tradition that continues today with such celebrities as Dr. Phil.</span><br /><span class="_Tgc"><br /></span><span class="_Tgc">What is the science of psychology, then? It is the study of the human mind. It seeks to understand human behavior through the conscious and unconscious experiences of individuals AND groups.</span><br /><span class="_Tgc"><br /></span><span class="_Tgc">Like everything in life, it can be used for evil.&nbsp;</span><br /><span class="_Tgc"><br /></span><span class="_Tgc">While white Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig were slugging homers and entertaining white and black Americans alike, an Austrian corporal enamored with his white skin was beginning to understand the power of psychology to promote an agenda. Ideas were one thing, but symbols, flags, and fear would win over supporters. </span><span class="_Tgc"><span class="_Tgc">Symbols ARE important to our world. Semiotics (or semiology) is the study of signs, symbols, and how they are significant. It is closely related to the field of linguistics, which studies words. Both are inseparable from psychology, and from these comes propaganda.</span> He thought the Social Democrats he despised had used what he called the "infamous spiritual and physical terror" to win supporters in Vienna. Fear is a powerful seller.</span><br /><span class="_Tgc"><br /></span><span class="_Tgc">Iron Cross, First Class assigned ex-servicemen to National Socialist meetings to silence hecklers and protestors, then organized Ordnertruppe - strong arm squads - to keep order. Later they were officially renamed "Sturmabteilung." Storm Troopers. They wore brown shirts and eventually took to breaking up meetings of OTHER political parties. Political rallies became violent. Iron Cross, First Class even led one of these attacks, which landed him a three month prison sentence (only one of which he served.)</span><span class="_Tgc"><br /></span><br /><span class="_Tgc"><br /></span><span class="_Tgc">The concept of the "hero" is also a good seller, born of the same manipulation as fear. Though baseball players had been used to sell products since the late nineteenth century (the famous Honus Wagner baseball card was printed for a tobacco company,) it wasn't until the twenties when endorsements began to be common as the United States was undergoing what could be called a "consumer revolution." Prior to WWI, endorsements were rare and were mostly limited to sporting goods, part of the reason baseball developed a reputation as a "healthy" endeavor.</span><br /><br /><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-tTKh-PR0N0s/V5_c8U0WmeI/AAAAAAAAKiI/e-Gl2qujc9A504ek672zPPRjq5howz6owCLcB/s1600/ChtNIB6WUAECyrE.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-tTKh-PR0N0s/V5_c8U0WmeI/AAAAAAAAKiI/e-Gl2qujc9A504ek672zPPRjq5howz6owCLcB/s400/ChtNIB6WUAECyrE.jpg" width="312" /></a><span class="_Tgc">Then came the ads for cigarettes, beer, sodas, and guns, among other things. As endorsement advertising grew, so, too did the controversy surround it. Baseball Commissioner Landis worried that money for endorsing products was a guise for payment to throw games, though he never acted on it. Endorsements were seen as fraud by many parties, including the FTC, not to mention that Americans widely viewed the practice as objectionable. (The fraud charges continued for decades - Mickey Mantle got into trouble for endorsing a brand of milk he did not drink.)</span><br /><span class="_Tgc"><br /></span><span class="_Tgc"> </span><br /><span class="_Tgc">None of these things would have been possible without Sigmund Freud or his nephew Edward Bernays, father of the field of "public relations" and Woodrow Wilson's WWI propaganda minister. Baseball players had been symbols of health, and once the view had been firmly established, they could have sold anything, even guns to children. And nobody thinks twice about it.</span><br /><span class="_Tgc"><br /></span><span class="_Tgc">That's what propaganda does - it normalizes a product, a brand, an idea, an ideology. That's the point of marketing and propaganda of other sorts. You appeal to a person's ego, or a group's ego, and you choose words and symbols that will arouse specific emotions in them, and they come to see that product or idea as right or true to them. Sure, people objected to the baseball player endorsements, but enough just accepted it as normal that it became normal. Babe Ruth didn't buy his kids the guns he sold. It was enough to give the <i>perception</i> that he liked the product.</span><br /><span class="_Tgc"><br /></span><span class="_Tgc">This works whether you are sending a seemingly positive message, as in "I like this product," or an inflammatory message - "I hate this product." "I hate this person." "I hate this group." It works by appealing to the ego - that sense of self, including all the hyphenated words that come with it (self-esteem, self-importance, self-awareness, etc.)</span><br /><span class="_Tgc"><br /></span><span class="_Tgc">The flag.</span><br /><span class="_Tgc"><br /></span><span class="_Tgc">Is there a more potent piece of propaganda than a flag? The flag inspires feelings of pride, patriotism, and belonging for those who support it. For those who don't? Loathing. Disgust. Evil.</span><br /><span class="_Tgc"><br /></span><span class="_Tgc">For most Americans and Westerners, the flag that Austrian failed artist designed is a symbol of the worse evil bestowed upon mankind. The simple flag - red background, white circle, and black swastika (once a symbol of harmony found in ruins of ancient Egypt, Troy, China, India, and elsewhere), became the embodiment of death and destruction.</span><br /><span class="_Tgc"><br /></span><span class="_Tgc">This was AND STILL IS the worst period in human history. The trick is to keep it from happening again. (Not everyone loathes the swastika flag, and indeed it is making a comeback among a swath of Trump supporters.)</span><br /><span class="_Tgc"><br /></span><span class="_Tgc"><i>"A symbol it really is! In red we see the social idea of the movement, in white the nationalist idea, and in the swastika the mission of the struggle for the victory of the Aryan man." - Mein Kampf</i></span><br /><br /><span class="_Tgc">What is propaganda?</span><br /><br /><span class="_Tgc">Chances are, you have fallen victim to it. Buy these cigarettes. Buy Coca Cola. Buy America.</span><br /><br /><span class="_Tgc">Think, people. Think. </span></div>Cathie Gloverhttps://plus.google.com/117089522678135038590noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21666786.post-24640219121312540532016-07-06T22:30:00.002-04:002016-07-06T22:32:24.122-04:00Baseball and Life during Peacetime<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-XCMecWFOp-g/V32sifLqI3I/AAAAAAAAKbE/Ov5gic-uODg1Jb2z3zTPdGLO551cTDFuwCLcB/s1600/f40ec5a3235782e3c965ff7422d33914.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-XCMecWFOp-g/V32sifLqI3I/AAAAAAAAKbE/Ov5gic-uODg1Jb2z3zTPdGLO551cTDFuwCLcB/s640/f40ec5a3235782e3c965ff7422d33914.jpg" width="456" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-gPCPyFHSuBY/V32r4M1SCeI/AAAAAAAAKbA/PBlKXm35CGEi7CCTePTgC0PPAADH5EIdwCLcB/s1600/1924GiantsSenatorsProgram1.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><br /></a></div><i>Read the first part of this series <a href="http://baseballchurch.blogspot.com/2016/06/baseball-is-life-during-wartime.html" target="_blank">here</a>.</i><br /><br />World War I had been called the Great War and The War to End All Wars, but it was neither great nor did it end war. Instead, it set the world up for the worst war in the history of mankind, one in which unspeakable acts were committed in the name of ideology.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-gPCPyFHSuBY/V32r4M1SCeI/AAAAAAAAKbI/Ywp7V3qxRp05_9ux4bfcXofgXFroNzFxwCKgB/s1600/1924GiantsSenatorsProgram1.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-gPCPyFHSuBY/V32r4M1SCeI/AAAAAAAAKbI/Ywp7V3qxRp05_9ux4bfcXofgXFroNzFxwCKgB/s320/1924GiantsSenatorsProgram1.JPG" width="276" /></a></div>No one knew it at the time, and things began to return to life as usual, baseball included. Only it wasn't so usual. Following the Black Sox scandal of 1919 (the Reds did not win <i>because</i> of it - they were a good team that could have won regardless), baseball needed a hero who could lead the game into a new decade and leave the past behind. The dead ball era was over as the world became alive again; line drives replaced bullets and home runs replaced bombs. Mustard went on hotdogs instead of eyes. Babe Ruth replaced General Pershing as America's hero. Attendance rose by 50% from the 10's, and America fell in love with baseball all over again.<br /><br />The world seemed to have come to terms with itself. Peace and prosperity appeared to be reality. Booze was banned in America but it just made the parties better as they moved underground. It was all a facade, of course. That Austrian corporal with the German Iron Cross, First Class, was contemplating entering politics. He was thirty-something years old and mad at the world - the world being run by "scoundrel Jews," of course. His mindset wasn't unique, however, as the Bavarian rightwing clung to the "stabbed in the back" mythos. Conservatives despised the new democratic republic and the individual freedoms it brought; they longed for a return to the monarchy, the good old days. And there was the defeated Army with nothing to do, minds destroyed by the horrors of the war they had just waged, morale destroyed by the loss and the stipulations of the armistice. Militias sprung up everywhere; the disgruntled Army helped equip them for fear of the rise of socialism. Berlin was briefly occupied by one of these rightwing brigades in March 1920 until a general strike by the trade unions restored the republic. At the same time, a coup overthrew a socialist government in Munich, installing a rightwing regime. This was the climate in Bavaria, one of angry conservatives armed to the teeth, a climate that Iron Cross, First Class found home.<br /><br />That was far away from the ballparks of America. While the United States lost about 117,000 troops, Americans never really felt the full effects of the war because it didn't happen here. I suppose it made it easier to get back to living life. Germany had lost 2 million soldiers and 2.5 million civilians while ravaging cities and countryside alike. You have to imagine what it was like, to see your homes and villages destroyed, to see bombed out bridges and burnt up forests, to see your childhood memories demolished and wonder if your country could ever be whole again, if you could ever be you again. Germany's population at the start of the war was 67 million; there was not a German who didn't know dozens of dead by the end of it.<br /><br />I think the whole world was in denial. Americans certainly were, getting fake rich and falling under the spell of consumerism. That a game could grow so big and start making so much money was testament to that. But it was always more than a game, wasn't it? It was that pastime that had found its way from Valley Forge to the Civil War to history's worst war, and it was solace and unity and summer and the proverbial return to innocence, if only for a couple of hours a day. While the Giants and the Yankees took turns winning World Series in that decadent decade and using the Middlewestern teams as their own AAAA farm clubs, the haves in the real world were having and having some more and the baseball loving POTUS was promising a chicken in every pot and a car in every garage and then there were no chickens or pots or cars or garages.<br /><br />The haves were having and having some more everywhere. That's how communism rose. It's how the German Workers Party rose. As fate would have it, the Army ordered Iron Cross, First Class to attend one of the latter's meetings to investigate. A crank economist who had developed a religious devotion to the idea that speculative capital had caused Germany's economic trouble, calling it "interest slavery," spoke at one of these meetings, where the first seeds of evil of something called National Socialism were sown. The founder, a locksmith by trade, had set up a "Committee of Independent Workmen" to counter the growing popularity of Marxism in the trade unions. Peas in a pod. Both were formed out of contempt for the middle class and the establishment. Both blamed the middle class and the establishment for their troubles and scorned them for their lack of understanding of the social problems of the lower class.<br /><br />This is populism.<br /><br />With the German variety came an intense hatred for the post-war democratic republic that had been established and the people that were running it. This new German Workers Party was full of misfits who had failed at life, failed to see their own flaws, and blamed everyone else for their problems. They did have a point - the social ills were real and they were often ignored. The haves were having and having some more and then some more after that and many people pretended this wasn't happening or didn't care because they had theirs. But the freaks in the German Workers Party probably couldn't have made it anywhere - a fat, gay Army <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Ernst-Rohm" target="_blank">captain</a>, a crazy <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anton_Drexler" target="_blank">locksmith</a>, a failed <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dietrich_Eckart" target="_blank">playwright</a> whose works had only been performed by patients in a mental hospital, a crank <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Gottfried-Feder" target="_blank">economist</a>, and an untalented painter with an Iron Cross, First Class had found each other in the wrong place at the wrong time and the whole world suffered for it.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-36WRnKqX_4c/V32tDYxChyI/AAAAAAAAKbM/oFAJfsXRyrEU5XRuAOGhnFdx9dvrB1GPgCLcB/s1600/18695040_1_l.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-36WRnKqX_4c/V32tDYxChyI/AAAAAAAAKbM/oFAJfsXRyrEU5XRuAOGhnFdx9dvrB1GPgCLcB/s400/18695040_1_l.jpg" width="303" /></a></div>Baseball advertising was as old as the Major Leagues, going back to tobacco cards, but it took on a life of its own in the twenties. Babe Ruth sold soda, candy, cigarettes, and guns. Lou Gehrig sold batteries and breakfast cereals. Jimmie Foxx sold bats and lubricants. Owners were coming up with new ways to make money and enticing fans to come to games. But baseball was just going along with a new craze. As <a href="http://theconversation.com/the-manipulation-of-the-american-mind-edward-bernays-and-the-birth-of-public-relations-44393" target="_blank">Edward Bernays</a> was telling Americans to buy soap because it was 99% pure and eat bacon for breakfast because it was patriotic and women to smoke because it would give them freedom, that Iron Cross, First Class, was also mastering the art of propaganda.<br /><br /><i>To be continued...</i><br /><br /><i>(Incidentally, Bernays despised democracy, too, preferring "enlightened despotism." Peas in pods.)</i><br /><br /><br /></div>Cathie Gloverhttps://plus.google.com/117089522678135038590noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21666786.post-21742812924740718802016-06-16T23:56:00.003-04:002016-06-17T12:48:35.724-04:00Baseball is Life during Wartime<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">Everything in history has happened because of what happened before it. You, reading this on your laptop or your mobile phone, or if you're older, your PC with a giant monitor, may or may not contemplate how amazing it is that of 6,000 years of recorded human history (<i>recorded</i>, people), we have been able to communicate by distance for less than two hundred years. Coincidentally, that's about the same time baseball has been, well,<i> baseball</i> in America.<br /><br />It's no secret that I am enamored with the role baseball has played in our nation's history and am fond of saying George Washington played catch with his troops at Valley Forge and Abe Lincoln watched games played on the White House lawn. (I have written some pretty great stuff about it all that you've never read because I am incapable of finishing anything. I am hoping this little endeavor that I am beginning will change that, because a lot is stake right now in our country and I once again turn to baseball to fix it.)<br /><br />The American Civil War was no accident. Slavery was ending as colonialism was ending, and slavery was a product of the Western colonial era. The Civil War was as much a result of a changing global order which saw empires falling as it was a problem with human rights or the Union. This change had a lot to do with the outbreak of World War I, a war in which a young, failed artist from Austria suffered a mustard gas attack by the British and cemented an ideology of Hate. His regiment was in the thick of the fighting all spring and summer of 1918 while the US was fighting its second summer to save Europe from itself. He was awarded the Iron Cross, First Class that August for capturing 15 British soldiers singlehandedly. Or French, depending on which account you are reading.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-7_-CWHduI1E/V2NFdM2o_XI/AAAAAAAAKCw/8UEsCvPQIeErEN0SE1O5d1fzp5HKOz44QCLcB/s1600/1917WorldSeries.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-7_-CWHduI1E/V2NFdM2o_XI/AAAAAAAAKCw/8UEsCvPQIeErEN0SE1O5d1fzp5HKOz44QCLcB/s400/1917WorldSeries.png" width="307" /></a></div>The minor leagues had closed up shop in 1917 but MLB owners kept the majors open. Unlike WWII, despite what they claimed as patriotism, it wasn't for morale for the country. It was pure greed. The US government had pressured them to shut down and let the players contribute to the war effort, but they would not. They were roundly criticized by the public, and they cut travel and shortened the season in 1918 thinking that would appease the critics.<br /><br />But the assholes also cut player salaries as a result. Real patriotic.<br /><br />The reigning World Series champs White Sox were looking as good as the previous season and the Giants were set to repeat as NL champs. In a perfect world - or even a half decent world - they would have had a rematch.<br /><br />On July 1, 1918, the "Work or Fight Order" went into effect, and all draft-eligible men employed in non-essential occupations had to apply for work that was related to the war or risk being drafted. Playing a game for a living was considered a non-essential occupation. The deadline was extended until September 1 for ballplayers, and then the owners lobbied/paid bribes(probably) to have it extended two more weeks so they could play the World Series, the only one to be played entirely in September. But the players didn't wait. By season's end, each team had lost an average of 15 players due to voluntary enlistment, and both the White Sox and the Giants lost their best players (Shoeless Joe among them.) (775 ballplayers fought in World War I. You can find them all <a href="http://www.baseball-reference.com/bullpen/Category:World_War_I_Veterans" target="_blank">here</a>.)<br /><br />Instead, the Red Sox played the Cubs in the Fall (Technically Summer) Classic, defeating them in six games as the war in Europe raged on. Babe Ruth - you might have heard of him - was instrumental in the victory, his final year in that uniform. It was the last World Series Boston would win for a very long time, because of the curse, you know. And you know about the Cubs, who had started a curse of their own a decade before.<br /><br />A month after the final out, that gas attack took place in the last Battle of Ypres and that young psychopath with the Iron Cross, First Class, was laid up in a hospital bed, unable to see a thing except the warped visions in his head. Germany was losing the war to "invisible foes," who were a "greater danger to the German people than the biggest cannon of the enemy."<br /><br />Those "invisible foes," of course, were Jews and Marxists.<br /><br />The other soldiers hated the future fascist. "We all cursed him and found him intolerable...There was this white crow among us that didn't go along with us when we damned the war to hell." He'd sit "in the corner of our mess holding his head between his hands in deep contemplation." Then he'd leap up and go on a rant about the invisible foes, scoundrels who cursed the war and wished for its quick end. They were slackers, and who but Jews could be slackers?<br /><br />Germany lost the war a month after the attack at Ypres, but they hadn't been defeated by the British or the Americans or the French...Jews had defeated them. Jews had stabbed the country in the back.<br /><br />That "stabbed in the back" conspiratorial myth did more than anything else to bring the fall of the Weimer Republic that followed Germany's defeat. It is astounding that this myth was so widespread among the German people. "November criminals," they said.<br /><br />The truth is, if the German army hadn't insisted on signing the armistice, Germany could have very easily fallen into the hands of the Bolsheviks, and history would look very different. Maybe not better, probably not worse, but we'll never know, will we? All we can do is learn from what actually happened in the past and work to change it.<br /><br />Back in the US, the White Sox, with all their players back, were on their way to another pennant. But we were in the throes of corruption, emboldened by a war victory, feeling invincible, gambling. While Europe was celebrating into oblivion into the next decade, conservative Christians were banning everything they didn't like in the US. One of those was alcohol. Another was black people. Even though they weren't playing in the league at that point, Kennesaw Mountain Landis saw to it that no person of dark skin would play a Major League game until he was long dead and burning in hell. Capitalists made fake fortunes off the working man and then crashed the economy. The twenties were a mess. Everyone thought they could do whatever they wanted even when the law said they couldn't.<br /><br />The Roaring Twenties came to an end. So did the Weimer Republic. So, too, did civility.<br /><br />And then, darkness set upon us all...<br /><br /><i>This is going to be a series. All World War II&nbsp; references come from </i>The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich<i> by William L. Shirer. It is by far the definitive book on the rise and fall of a psychopath. Yes, I do know how to properly cite references. But the Blogger platform has no footnote option.</i><br /><br /><br /><br /></div>Cathie Gloverhttps://plus.google.com/117089522678135038590noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21666786.post-9259952393512475032016-06-05T19:24:00.000-04:002016-06-05T19:24:01.033-04:00Brunhilda isn't wailing yet...<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">Watched the Nats-Reds series this weekend with enthusiasm after initial disinterest because the Reds have been so...what's the word? Disappointing isn't it, because we didn't expect much this year. But we expected more than this. Appalling comes to mind. I don't know. It's some kind of negative emotion, but maybe there isn't a word in English for it. However, I got into it the game Friday night when the Reds decided to be a Major League baseball team, then was excited to see them defeat the Nats again on Saturday.<br /><br />All it did was make me think irrational thoughts about potentially maybe possibly recovering enough to compete for the Wild Card. Because the offense is good. Half of the offense won two division titles and appeared in three post seasons in the last five years. Sure, we lost our All Star catcher to injury and third baseman to trade, but Suarez can hit and Duvall has surprised everyone and the team can score runs.<br /><br />Of course, the rotation is at best questionable, but Homer is making his way back and Desclafani will be pitching soon and Stephenson already has an MLB W under his belt. If Finnegan can figure out how to put more pitches over the plate, he'll be serviceable if not good.<br /><br />But the Reds' front office threw in the towel before the season ever began and we've been stuck with this shitshow of a bullpen, a revolving door of future DFAs and guys who have no business wearing MLB jerseys anywhere other than the stands. It is no exaggeration to say this is the worst Reds bullpen I have every witnessed. Prove me wrong with your fancy numbers. You can't. The bullpen ERA is OVER SIX.<br /><br />You know, you can "rebuild" and still put a competitive team on the field.<br /><br />Anyway, there's always a part of me with irrational hope no matter how bleak things look. Don't forget that when I seem like the most negative of Nancys.</div>Cathie Gloverhttps://plus.google.com/117089522678135038590noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21666786.post-46243202106655023722016-05-15T22:01:00.001-04:002016-05-15T22:14:19.229-04:00Dear Dan Haren<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">I read <a href="http://www.latimes.com/sports/la-sp-dan-haren-retirement-20160515-story.html" target="_blank">this article</a> about you yesterday and for some reason woke up this morning with it on my mind. I had this post all written out in my head while I was lying there in the pre-coffee hours but wonder if I'll be able to put it into writing now that I've migrated to the couch, where I will be watching baseball in a few minutes while the winds of March blow outside on this May day. This post really isn't to you or about you, but I feel it could help the reader if I wrote it as if I were speaking to a real person. Or maybe it just helps me write it.<br /><br />I guess the article resonated with me because I know what it's like to deal with anxiety. Anxiety makes me procrastinate to the point where sometimes I don't do things that must be done at all. I won't take drugs for it because I know that drugs don't fix the root of the problem, which is the way we live our lives in American society, and society seems so unwilling to change its unsustainable lifestyle that we will surely meet our destruction before we deal with our country's worsening mental health epidemic.<br /><br />I work in an uncelebrated and oft criticized field that doesn't get the spotlight of sports, though what we do is more important than what you did for a living, given that we are helping people who suffer from war and oppression. The only time we get the spotlight is when there is a foreign aid corruption scandal. Then it's usually said that all NGOs have too much overhead, as if us human rights workers are supposed to work for free and not earn a living. We tend to live in big cities where the organizations are located and where the cost of living should be criminal, so we're usually living paycheck to paycheck and sometimes deciding which bill to pay late each month, at least until we have put in enough years for our 3% cost of living raises to add up to something useful. Most of you MLB ballplayers have no concept of what that is like, or you forget. You yourself put so much pressure on yourself because you thought quitting and losing out on another $15 million put your family at risk. That is offensive to those who work their asses off in industries that are not valued as sports are in this country. As a society, our values are warped. But I get that you guys work your asses off, too, and you felt like you earned it. For your industry, you did.<br /><br />I quit once. I had the same thoughts as you did. I had quit in my head many times and then one day when the the stress of barely scraping by had finally gotten to me, I took my last paycheck and went to live in the cheapest European country I could find - Bulgaria - for a few months just to get away from it all. I think the suffering of people had overtaken my unconscious mind. I thought I would get some writing done, maybe publish a book, come back with a fresh perspective, but I came back and had trouble finding a job because in my field, it's not necessarily about talent. It's about who you know, like it is in many other industries. I had yet to learn that so I kept applying for jobs without using the connections I had made. Then one day, out of the blue, when depression had set up permanent residence in my psyche, one of those connections offered me a job, and I started on a journey that opened my eyes to the real world in a way I could never have known sitting behind a desk in our nation's capital. Your wife told you to "use perspective" and "there is more to life than baseball." Boy, is she right.<br /><br />I spent a year over the course of two years living in Beirut. I felt like I was living in the center of the news. You see, those people live every day with the stress of the threat of destruction. People my age had grown up with the bullets and bombs of the world consuming all that was good in their lives. People refer to it as the "Lebanese Civil War," but it was a World War fought in a tiny country between various Lebanese militias, the Israelis and the Palestinians, the Iranians, the Syrians, the Saudis, the Russians, and us Americans.<br /><br />While you and I were playing baseball and softball at age 14, my friend was driving a makeshift ambulance with a group of his friends to help those blown up by car bombs or airstrikes. Some of my first memories of the world outside the United States were about news of hostages and the bombings of our embassy and the Marine barracks. But those things happened so far away from my Ohio suburban home that it was as if they weren't real. They weren't real until I went there two decades later, and I saw the vestiges of war, bombed out buildings, bullet holes, and the psychological scars of a society that had experienced the apocalypse.<br /><br />The fifteen year war ended in 1990, but it wasn't truly over. There were more bombs and assassinations and the militias still rule today. Sometimes it takes a year for them to put together a government. They haven't had a president for - what is it, three years now? They ran out of landfill room, so trash has been piling up for a year and counting. Israel periodically comes and bombs them. Hezbollah is the most powerful political party. One fifth of the country are refugees from Palestine, Syria, and Iraq.&nbsp; ISIS keeps trying to come in. The Syrians are attempting to wipe themselves out next door, a war that sometimes spills over the officially defined borders into Lebanese territory. They aren't even allowed to attend their league's soccer games for fear of militia violence, so they can only watch on TV. Imagine playing to empty ballparks every single day. These are the realities of life in Lebanon and too many other places on this planet. But people keep pushing on.<br /><br />Here in America, we have no concept of war. As most WWII vets have passed, few of us has suffered war on American soil, which is a reason 9/11 was overwhelmingly traumatic for many people. We glorify our soldiers, unaware of the reality of what military life entails or what it means to "defend the country" or why we are even fighting the wars in the first place. Most Americans don't serve, so they are ripe targets for military propaganda. Hell, many MLB ballplayers won't even serve their country by playing for Team USA in the World Baseball Classic. Patriotism is waving a flag, clapping for troops, and saying a pledge of allegiance that was originally created as a marketing gimmick. The reality is that most soldiers aren't heroes, the wars are unjust, the DOD spends billions on propaganda that is working, and military life is often mundane. So you aren't alone in lack of perspective. It's practically the American Way.<br /><br />The hero worship is, as you are well aware, not confined to the military. Our obsession with sports figures and celebrities is unhealthy at best. We expect you to be machines. You aren't human. We don't know you personally and it is rare to have any interaction with you at all, so what we see on the field or in the newspaper is all we have to go on. I am one who probably called you a whiner for not accepting the trade to the Marlins, and I apologize for that. I'm really trying to be nicer on social media. The climate is just so toxic that it is hard sometimes, as it gets into your unconscious and you don't even realize your tone is too sharp or too bitter. Then there's all the social polarization and the intentional wedge driving by politicians, and people fall in line with the propaganda, and it is just impossible to filter out all that negativity. It's like virtual liver cirrhosis - the poison has overwhelmed and destroyed our filtering system.<br /><br />But anxiety is a real thing, and you can "have perspective" rationally while your insides are torn up. Those who have never experienced it or have never had a panic attack just don't get it. It's not something you can control, and it can happen to you even if you're sitting on your couch doing nothing. I've read a great deal about psychology, some on my own and some for university work. While studying in Europe, I took a course that focused on the psychology of adolescents who grew up in traumatic circumstances, largely revolving around World War II. We went to Terezenstadt near Prague, which was considered a "model" concentration camp by the Nazis who showed it off to international groups like the Red Cross to show they treated their prisoners "well." You should have seen some of the artwork drawn by the children they had on display. The human mind is a fragile thing, and for all our conscious thoughts, there are unconscious influences.<br /><br />But you don't have to experience something as horrific as a concentration camp for your mind to mess you up. Sigmund Freud did groundbreaking work in the field of psychoanalysis, even though he was wrong on some things. Carl Jung was his student and became his equal. They both studied the unconscious mind and discovered that a lot of our conscious problems stem from an inability to reconcile them with our unconscious. Science <a href="https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/06/120616145531.htm" target="_blank">is showing</a> that anxiety stems from the unconscious mind and that until we are able to have more balance in our lives and resolve the conflict between the conscious and unconscious, we will continue to suffer from it, and no amount of talk about perspective will fix that. But we must strive for that balance.<br /><br />I don't know if you have seen a therapist but s/he'd probably tell you something that happened in your youth is responsible for the anxiety. I think about this a lot and think of the family turmoil in my development years and am pretty sure my anxiety is rooted in that, and despite the fact that I was the best student in my class growing up and the best athlete, I never feel adequate enough in my professional life. I think my experiences in Lebanon helped me to bring some of the unconscious concerns to my consciousness, and I've learned to take control of some of that anxiety. But I could never go on TV, even though I have the expertise to talk about certain issues, and I have a hard time participating in meetings or talking on the phone unless I have spent hours preparing for it. I feel uncomfortable in social situations, which just gets worse as I get older. I used to post to this blog every day, but then the internet got mean and I lost my desire to write. I moved to short memory Twitter and racked up a decent number of followers, but like you I found the environment difficult. Sometimes I'll call someone out on Twitter for being a total garbage human being, then won't check my mentions for days for fear of the reply. I usually apologize if I am in the wrong, but that's not enough for some people. We shouldn't - we <i>can't</i> - let people get away with being awful people. We can't let rotten individuals throw our country in the trash. As Dr. King said, "Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter."<br /><br />I liked the LA Times article, because it didn't try to glorify you, or pity you, or make us feel any sort of manufactured emotion. It was just a normal human story, and the writer didn't Hollywood it. (Kind of ironic, given the paper.) I think writers often start off with good intentions but get lost in the pressure to reach readers or get stuck on the rules of journalism school textbooks. I'm sure the pressure of deadlines hurts the work, too. There is pressure in every job and to be honest, sportswriters probably receive more negative criticism than struggling ballplayers because they are more accessible in the Internet Age and they tend to be viewed as mouthpieces for the teams they cover, as if they are the ones making the decisions. Some of the criticism is warranted as they spew cliches and avoid controversial topics for fear of losing access, but a lot of negativity comes from people who can barely put together a coherent sentence but feel their "opinions" are of the same value as anyone else's. That probably stems from our culture of giving everyone a participation trophy so no one's feelings are hurt and the emphasis on standardized tests in our schools that inhibits the development of critical thinking skills. We should fix that, too.<br /><br />I think more of us are becoming aware of the toxins in our society, and I hope we can find the political will to change the situation before it consumes us. What we see on Twitter is a microcosm for greater societal problems. The poisonous discourse has grown to a level that is threatening to destroy this country, as mass shootings become normalized, violence plagues our political gatherings, and a demagogue rises to power on the backs of bigotry and hatred. I can actually imagine the things people said to you, because I see the vitriol every day. These are probably unconscious feelings of inadequacy manifesting themselves in the form of what can only be called "meanness." We shouldn't accept that.<br /><br /><br />So here I am, several baseball games from when I began this post, and I'm still not entirely sure why the article was on my mind this morning. The point is perspective, I think. It seems you've found it. Plenty of things to do in life. Choose to do good and some of that anxiety will be relieved. I wish I had more to offer you, some advice, an opportunity, anything, really. I'm still trying to figure things out for myself, still wondering why so many people are awful, why meanness is acceptable, why our country seems unwilling to do anything about its problems except make them worse. Good luck to you.<br /><br /></div>Cathie Gloverhttps://plus.google.com/117089522678135038590noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21666786.post-77697721303366310142016-05-12T11:53:00.001-04:002016-05-12T11:53:52.594-04:00oh hey, look, there's an app for this<p dir="ltr">i really have no excuse not to post anymore.</p><p dir="ltr">I was at the Scherzer game last night. Twenty K's. I've been to Game 5 of the 2002 World Series, Randy Johnson's 300th win, and the Nationals Opening Day for the return of baseball to DC. This was up there with those games.</p><p dir="ltr">I left my seat once the entire game. There seemed to be less of that up and down stuff so typical of fans at Nats Park once Scherzer hit 15 strikeouts. Fewer fans left the game early, too, although some still did. Soulless creatures, those folks.</p><p dir="ltr">The oddest thing about the game was that the scoreboard operators never put "20 strikeouts" on the board. The outfield fence scoreboard had "kkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkk" but you'd think they'd put something up immediately. Even after the game they flashed "Nats win" as if this were just another ordinary game. Five times in history, folks. Seems like the scoreboard is so over programmed that there's no room for spontaneity. Style over substance.</p><p dir="ltr">Also, I should mention that the all beef hotdogs are far superior to Nats dogs.</p>Cathie Gloverhttps://plus.google.com/117089522678135038590noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21666786.post-39799359761424774562016-05-10T00:16:00.000-04:002016-05-10T00:34:09.546-04:00No joy in Mudville<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">Part 1<br /><br />I wanted to write something about baseball but I'm sort of out of words for it. But I'll try.<br /><br />I started this blog when I was still in my twenties and as I was going back through some of the old posts looking for a particular one on Bonds, I thought how fun I had maintaining it and what unbridled passion I felt. That's your twenties, though. If you do it right, anyway.<br /><br />I remember our after work happy hours, arguing about politics and world affairs and thinking we all could save the world with our own naive ideas. They were naive, but they were informed, at least. You can't really say the same for some of the people who open their mouths today. I mean, there are people who think that you can just print money and your country will be ok. Ever heard of Weimer Republic? Probably not. Look it up to find out why you can't just print money.<br /><br />Anyway, when blogging first started, there was a community and people wrote on blogs because they were passionate about whatever they were writing about. Your blog was ranked based on links to it and there wasn't money involved. It wasn't who paid the most that got the readers; it was who wrote the best. Because you needed links, you visited others' sites and formed communities where you conversed about your shared interests. This was fun, back when people who knew how to write were the ones on the internet and the mouthbreathers were trying to find the computer's on switch. Hard to believe it was a decade ago, but time flies when you throw a clock through a window.<br /><br />The Reds were awful at that time, but not so often that you couldn't muster hope until about August each year. The offense was good. Home runs were sailing into the incandescent summer evenings under the ballpark lights and we had yet to raise a generation that had not known a Reds World Series championship.<br /><br />I didn't watch many Reds games last year because my internet didn't work correctly and I was stuck in a Comcast contract and they refused to acknowledge that it didn't work. Oh, and the team was so awful and I was so disappointed that I think that my heart would have ripped to shreds. I think back to only ten years ago and no corporation would have been able to get away with robbing someone like that, but that was before Citizens United and United States citizens decided it was ok to give control of their lives to corporations. Granted, the internet was not as fast and MLB.TV was not in HD but you know what? It worked. (It took us almost a year and Comcast finally fixed the problem so I can watch this year.) There was no Facebook to control what content we see and Google was giving out email addresses by invitation only and the internet was enjoyable. We had fun. I made stupid photoshops like this:<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-qjrAWLUVkLg/VzFLtD_WkrI/AAAAAAAAJWM/T6HYjnxkOhYcR-vbilZMy0jSFxx4Ba_QwCLcB/s1600/spacereds%2Bcopy.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-qjrAWLUVkLg/VzFLtD_WkrI/AAAAAAAAJWM/T6HYjnxkOhYcR-vbilZMy0jSFxx4Ba_QwCLcB/s1600/spacereds%2Bcopy.jpg" /></a></div><br />We were civil to each other. We had blogger "roundtables." We had something called "blogrolls," and they were as important as the blog itself. No one got paid to do anything. No one put ads on their blogs.<br /><br />What happened was this: Google. It got to be that you had to spend more time promoting your blog, focusing on search engine optimization, paying for social media ads, and using analytics than you did actually writing the content. Oh, and Americans' attention spans dropped four seconds in the span of a decade thanks to social media and they couldn't read anymore. And the incivility. Oh, the incivility.<br /><br />Bryce Harper has the unbridled passion of a twenty-something. Worse, a young twenty-something who has grown up knowing only one thing in life: baseball. He's the youngest guy to every win an MVP. And when his mouth is shut, he's fun to watch.<br /><br />But then it opens.<br /><br />Tonight he may have done the worst thing he's ever done, worse than even blowing the kiss at the pitcher after he hit a minor league home run. While his team was celebrating a walk off home run, he was yelling "fuck you" at the ump for throwing him out of the game a batter earlier. He wasn't even batting. He was in the dugout. Getting thrown out of a tie game for yelling at the ump is bad enough, but your team is celebrating a walk off win and you have to seek out the ump to yell profanities at him?<br /><br />This is the Bryce Harper that is not fun to watch, the one that people hate.<br /><br />Worse? Watching people defend this behavior or get their Bryce Harper Underoos in bunches when they hear criticism of it, incapable of comprehending why what he did was wrong.<br /><br />Your team just won. You don't go seeking out vengeance. You overshadowed the heroics of a teammate who doesn't get much of a spotlight. It was a classless act, absolute garbage. It wasn't passion. It was narcissism. He's too full of himself to even celebrate with his teammates. <br /><br />He'll make a perfect Yankee.<br /><br />But in our narcissistic age, I guess being a dick of a teammate is A-OK. It's "fun." Concepts as professionalism or sportsmanship are outdated, amirite? Let's just drag every bit of decency through the mud.<br /><br />There is a reason people are supporting a politician (yes, he's a politician despite beliefs to the contrary) who runs on a slogan "Make America Great Again." Because we have lost something (though not the things he stands for, not at all, but the message resonates for a reason.) People don't quite understand what has been lost, but they sense it is something big. The loss of civility is "huge," and decency, and respect. It's not kids these days. It's everyone. Talking about baseball online is not fun anymore. We can't talk to each other without dragging our opponents through the mud. <br /><br />There is no joy in Mudville.<br /><br />So right back at you, Harper. Grow up. And grow up, internet.</div>Cathie Gloverhttps://plus.google.com/117089522678135038590noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21666786.post-86657526735210713602016-02-20T11:23:00.001-05:002016-02-20T11:23:36.913-05:00"There's nothing bad that accrues from baseball."<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ENbtR1wXJyc/VsiSFQuaBFI/AAAAAAAAI_8/xBIijKv5TQs/s1600/rose.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="210" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ENbtR1wXJyc/VsiSFQuaBFI/AAAAAAAAI_8/xBIijKv5TQs/s640/rose.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br />There were three of them, small scraps of white fabric with red trim and letters that proclaimed a celebration of something that we were too young to understand. We knew it was a big deal, though, because we were given these gifts and it wasn't a birthday or Christmas. "Pete's Back!" the shirts proclaimed, gifts from our grandparents celebrating the return of Pete Rose to the Cincinnati Reds Baseball Club (est. 1869).<br /><br />I was seven years old then, and twelve during the year of Rose's demise, old enough to know something very bad had happened but not enough to understand it. It was the year of The Quake, too, ending a tumultuous year for baseball.<br /><br />I thought Bart Giamatti was the bad guy at that time. Sure, I had grown up with the baseball mythology and the knowledge of the game's progression from rounders to the nation's pastime, but I didn't understand just how close baseball had come to destroying itself all those decades ago, and I certainly didn't understand the reasoning behind such a harsh punishment. All I understood was that a man who may have saved baseball in Cincinnati was expelled from paradise.<br /><br />That was a lifetime ago, it seems, yet I still don't understand it. I don't think Rose should be allowed to work in baseball again - any place of employment that saw an employee do something detrimental to the organization would not rehire said employee, and baseball is no different. But keeping the all-time hits leader out of the Hall of Fame? That's nothing more than vengeance.<br /><br />Paul Giamatti believes as so many others do, as Bart's pals Fay Vincent and Bud Selig did, that Pete Rose killed A. Bartlett Giamatti. Perhaps this is their grief talking, and I suppose it is excusable. But what is not excusable is the self-aggrandizing moralizing bullshit of the baseball writers.<br /><br />Baseball is not like any other sport in this country. Its history is interwoven into the history of our nation itself. The Black Sox Scandal was not a problem in baseball - it was a reflection of the corruption that was running rampant in our society, and the banishment of those eight men forever was a reflection of the teetotaling conservative mindset that was plaguing our country at the time, the same mindset that led to Prohibition and the official ban of blacks in the Major Leagues. The precedent of that punishment is why Rose was also banned for life. <br /><br />There is nothing more powerful than forgiveness, that all too ignored basic Christian value that seems to be lost in the travesty of vengeance. America wallows in vengeance, confuses it with justice, takes pride in an eye for an eye and the hypocrisy of it all.<br /><br />I think most of Cincinnati forgave Rose long ago. I am thrilled that the Reds are inducting him into the team Hall of Fame and are finally retiring 14. I hope this serves as a wake up call for the rest of baseball. You can't take our memories and throw them into the dustbin of history. One has to wonder if we'd still be here if Rose had been a Yankee. <br /><br />"There's nothing bad that accrues from baseball." Bart Giamatti said that. I'd like to think the vengeance mentality will go away, too, while Rose is still alive to appreciate it. <br /><br /><br /></div>Cathie Gloverhttps://plus.google.com/117089522678135038590noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21666786.post-7822631841010903882015-12-16T13:56:00.000-05:002015-12-16T14:09:42.545-05:00Frazier exits, Reds squander, Towel thrown in<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><i>I drafted some of this around the All Star Game but never posted it. I figure now is a good time. </i><br /><br />I don't remember the year anymore; a good guess would be 2008, since I was in Ohio that year and went to several Dayton Dragons games. Todd Frazier was a prospect at the time. He hit a homer that went out of the park at one game.<br /><br />I was well into adulthood by then, but I stood outside the players entrance with a ball and pen in hand with the kids after the game. All of the Dragons players but one had signed it, all but the one I wanted the most: Frazier. He was older than many of the other players, as he had graduated from Rutgers and had started pro ball in Billings, the Reds Rookie League affiliate for decades now. Edwin Encarnacion was entrenched at third, though Frazier may have been a shortstop back then. He did not garner the same excitement I had felt for Bruce and Votto a few years before. Still, I wanted his name on that ball.<br /><br />I remember Bruce's Reds debut; I made an effort to go to that game. I sat way up high behind homeplate. I had Sam Adams beer bottles confiscated at the gate. I remember that detail, for some reason.<br /><br />I remember watching Homer's debut, too, when I lived on Ingraham Street way up in 16th Street Heights, where I biked to work through a Colombia Heights neighborhood that was still sketchy after dark. Storms knocked the power out in the fifth inning; I had to listen to the rest of the game through a scratchy WLW that was coming to DC all the way from Cincinnati. <br /><br />I remember Tony Cingrani's debut. I had brought Chris to see the ballpark in Cincinnati. (He still frequently brings it up, usually mentioning the Reds Hall of Fame and the wall of baseballs for Pete's hits, impressed and awed.) Cingrani made a relief appearance that game; the starter left the game early, but I don't remember who he was. It might have been Cueto.<br /><br />I remember Cueto's debut. I was at that game, too. It was freezing and wet and I signed up for a credit card just to get a free blanket. My other cards reduced my credit limit because of that application - they don't warn you about that. Cueto was throwing a no hitter through five innings and people were starting to whisper about the zeroes on the scoreboard. He ended up striking out ten batters that game. I don't remember the opposing team. I feel like it might have been the Pirates. I'm probably wrong.<br /><br />I remember the Dunn and Kearns show, two guys for whose call up I had been waiting since their Dragons days. They were really the first players I can remember whose whole careers I had watched. I was pretty heartbroken when they swapped Kearns in The Trade of 2006, that awful deal that threw away one-fourth of our entire offense for a couple of relievers and quite possibly ruined the season. <br /><br />I don't remember Frazier's debut. I don't even remember his call up. Maybe it was in September of that disappointing 2011 - I think I've blocked out much of that season. One can only tolerate so much disappointment in baseball before the brain takes protective measures.<br /><br />Weird, the things you remember and the things you don't.<br /><br />The Dragons ball has Todd Frazier's signature on it, and I know which one it is. As for the others? Tucker Barnhart could be on there. And the guy who was a big prospect with Frazier...we traded him to...Baltimore? Brandon. Brendan? Warring? Warren? Waring? Gone. Curtis Parch? Gone. Scott Carol? Gone. Carlos Fischer? Gone. Jake Kahlehawaii...whatever his last name was? Gone. I don't even remember other players.<br /><br />Yeah, I could look them up, but why? The internet is not a replacement for memory. Memory is about experience, about life. Unfortunately life fades and withers until it is no more. Just like our memories.<br /><br />Sure, we're upset about trades now. In a year, maybe two, we'll forget all about it. [We always do, despite the warnings to not forget the past. Right now we have major presidential candidates proposing registration for groups of people they don't like, and a significant chunk of Americans agree with them. This, despite all of the WWII Holocaust movies that should keep alive the memory of what happens when you do that to people. I guess human beings never learn.]<br /><br />The Reds are in rebuilding mode, yes. They missed their window because Walt Jocketty was unable or unwilling to fill the gaping holes in a very good but not good enough team. I didn't watch many games of the second half of 2015, and I don't see myself watching a lot of a 2016 season that has already been thrown away. I get the rebuilding. But I'm angry because they missed that window, and though the holes were obvious to all but the most casual fan, they did not fill them. Which makes the rebuilding worse. I remember the last rebuilding. It was exciting because we hadn't won in a while, and players like Votto, Bruce, and Cueto were some of the top prospects in baseball. I remember when John Sickles was writing about the Reds farm system, he started his post with "Good lord." The farm was loaded.<br /><br />And then it was squandered in a couple of first round playoff exits and a Wild Card game I wish hadn't happened. Yeah, playoffs are better than none, and two division titles should be nothing to scoff at, but we were a leftfielder and a bench player away from winning it all.<br /><br />That's the real disappointment. It's not the trading away of players and the rebuilding. It's the squandering.<br /><br />Yeah, I'll be in and out of 2016. But they better fast track this rebuilding because I'm ready for 2017, so they better be, too.<br /><br /></div>Cathie Gloverhttps://plus.google.com/117089522678135038590noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21666786.post-22520873227403846292015-07-31T00:07:00.000-04:002015-07-31T00:08:24.236-04:00Baseball pics from Brooklyn<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-i7r30TPud08/VbruaXL5OII/AAAAAAAAIQc/0ZJrY7P0bxI/s1600/DSC_0874.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="426" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-i7r30TPud08/VbruaXL5OII/AAAAAAAAIQc/0ZJrY7P0bxI/s640/DSC_0874.JPG" width="640" /></a> <br />Walked around the Brooklyn Cyclones ballpark at Coney Island over the weekend. The Jackie Robinson/Pee Wee Reese statue was worth the walk.<br /><br />Back then, Cincinnati cops weren't killing black guys, but Cincinnati fans were disgustingly racist. The statue honors the moment at Crosley Field when Reds fans were taunting and jeering Robinson and Reese came over and put his arm around him to shut them up.<br /><br />Things are somewhat better now than then, but racist remarks at GABp are a regular occurrence, and now Cincinnati cops are killing black guys for not having drivers licenses. (Of course, Cincinnati isn't alone in this trend.) Sadly, this statue in Brooklyn was <a href="http://Sadly, the statue was vandalized with racist slurs a few years ago. " target="_blank">vandalized with racist slurs</a> and swastikas a few years ago.<br /><br />That there are Americans who justify cops giving people the death penalty without trial is evidence that America is in decline. While many of these same people point to marriage equality as "moral decline," the truth is the real moral decline is that murder of actual human beings has been legalized and glorified in our country and racism has made a strong comeback.<br /><br />Enough is enough, America.<br /><br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-nMeKKIXAbRo/VbrqFOkQnmI/AAAAAAAAIOQ/1_LIK80nhd0/s1600/DSC_0862.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="426" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-nMeKKIXAbRo/VbrqFOkQnmI/AAAAAAAAIOQ/1_LIK80nhd0/s640/DSC_0862.JPG" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-SbEUMyfiSPs/VbrqFzHY8FI/AAAAAAAAIOY/qX9WPcHOYkM/s1600/DSC_0863.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="426" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-SbEUMyfiSPs/VbrqFzHY8FI/AAAAAAAAIOY/qX9WPcHOYkM/s640/DSC_0863.JPG" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-bYQvXFGBRVg/VbrqGVmRj2I/AAAAAAAAIOc/JdhpdPHs4fM/s1600/DSC_0865.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="426" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-bYQvXFGBRVg/VbrqGVmRj2I/AAAAAAAAIOc/JdhpdPHs4fM/s640/DSC_0865.JPG" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Y4UWVu6ogrE/VbrqHg93bjI/AAAAAAAAIOo/U-6humqmnXs/s1600/DSC_0866.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="426" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Y4UWVu6ogrE/VbrqHg93bjI/AAAAAAAAIOo/U-6humqmnXs/s640/DSC_0866.JPG" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-gqUrtCqOaPM/VbrqJqexDBI/AAAAAAAAIO0/tydBbJ66wpg/s1600/DSC_0867.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="426" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-gqUrtCqOaPM/VbrqJqexDBI/AAAAAAAAIO0/tydBbJ66wpg/s640/DSC_0867.JPG" width="640" /></a></div><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-33UUznVpuog/VbrqJiWsnCI/AAAAAAAAIOw/dGl_Te1rmt8/s1600/DSC_0869.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="426" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-33UUznVpuog/VbrqJiWsnCI/AAAAAAAAIOw/dGl_Te1rmt8/s320/DSC_0869.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"This monument honors Jackie Robinson and Pee Wee Reese: Teammates, friends, and men of courage and conviction. Robinson broke the color barrier in Major League Baseball, Reese supported him, and together they made history.</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-cpBy_hWNN7s/VbrqK_JvzyI/AAAAAAAAIPA/1qGzsZqHo6M/s1600/DSC_0870.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="426" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-cpBy_hWNN7s/VbrqK_JvzyI/AAAAAAAAIPA/1qGzsZqHo6M/s640/DSC_0870.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">In May 1947, on Cincinnati's Crosley Field, Robinson endured racist taunts, jeers, and death threats that would have broken the spirit of a lesser man.</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-aeGsC_2E-_M/VbrqMKeVoXI/AAAAAAAAIPI/V72vhyfzQxw/s1600/DSC_0872.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="426" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-aeGsC_2E-_M/VbrqMKeVoXI/AAAAAAAAIPI/V72vhyfzQxw/s640/DSC_0872.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Reese, captain of the Brooklyn Dodgers, walked over to his teammate Robinson and stood by his side, silencing the taunts of the crowd. This simple gesture challenged prejudice and created a powerful and enduring friendship.</td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-NAJo9U-xkxM/VbrtWMBlbFI/AAAAAAAAIQU/to0bFkR1oHQ/s1600/DSC_0873.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="426" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-NAJo9U-xkxM/VbrtWMBlbFI/AAAAAAAAIQU/to0bFkR1oHQ/s640/DSC_0873.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Born 1919 Cairo, Georgia - Died 1972 Stamford, Connecticut. Jack Roosevelt Robinson. On April 15, 1947 Robinson first took the field for the Brooklyn Dodgers, breaking the color barrier in Major League Baseball. In the face of hostility, he remained steadfast, winning his way into the Hall of Fame and the hearts of baseball fans. Robinson was a champion of the game of baseball, of justice, and of civil rights."</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-vryTSNvc3JM/VbrqN9N22eI/AAAAAAAAIPY/-CqVIUYzGLA/s1600/DSC_0875.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="426" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-vryTSNvc3JM/VbrqN9N22eI/AAAAAAAAIPY/-CqVIUYzGLA/s640/DSC_0875.JPG" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-7w7UuQ-MnLE/VbrqPPwaxzI/AAAAAAAAIPg/wXIsqIgs7EA/s1600/DSC_0878.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="426" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-7w7UuQ-MnLE/VbrqPPwaxzI/AAAAAAAAIPg/wXIsqIgs7EA/s640/DSC_0878.JPG" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Dh9wV0iYyjE/VbrqQESm5uI/AAAAAAAAIPo/IEYlsBlYxHc/s1600/DSC_0883.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="426" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Dh9wV0iYyjE/VbrqQESm5uI/AAAAAAAAIPo/IEYlsBlYxHc/s640/DSC_0883.JPG" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-RL-amGsSOF8/VbrqRfSwF1I/AAAAAAAAIPw/EWZ8mZ8QCYQ/s1600/DSC_0885.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="426" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-RL-amGsSOF8/VbrqRfSwF1I/AAAAAAAAIPw/EWZ8mZ8QCYQ/s640/DSC_0885.JPG" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-BIDWQ-V3-WY/VbrqSWcBIlI/AAAAAAAAIP4/Ax1bZj2ZQ_o/s1600/DSC_0886.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="426" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-BIDWQ-V3-WY/VbrqSWcBIlI/AAAAAAAAIP4/Ax1bZj2ZQ_o/s640/DSC_0886.JPG" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-VirpXELtRB0/VbrqT-gHKcI/AAAAAAAAIQA/dUDsd0rcUkg/s1600/DSC_0887.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="426" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-VirpXELtRB0/VbrqT-gHKcI/AAAAAAAAIQA/dUDsd0rcUkg/s640/DSC_0887.JPG" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-7smNiuQqRtk/VbrqU97RSJI/AAAAAAAAIQI/8tSU7Ou-38A/s1600/DSC_0888.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="426" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-7smNiuQqRtk/VbrqU97RSJI/AAAAAAAAIQI/8tSU7Ou-38A/s640/DSC_0888.JPG" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-CUK_bbEmhwU/Vbru9YpIyPI/AAAAAAAAIQk/8DdsDLaN-p4/s1600/DSC_0889.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="426" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-CUK_bbEmhwU/Vbru9YpIyPI/AAAAAAAAIQk/8DdsDLaN-p4/s640/DSC_0889.JPG" width="640" /></a></div><br /></div>Cathie Gloverhttps://plus.google.com/117089522678135038590noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21666786.post-25589674419009951172015-07-08T11:18:00.000-04:002015-07-08T11:18:04.986-04:00Here's Johnny<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">What a wonderful performance by Johnny Cueto last night.<br /><br />I'll never forget his debut game, a miserable rainy April game in Cincinnati during which we signed up for credit cards just to get a free blanket, back when the credit card companies were allowed to exploit you at ballgames. <br /><br />We saw the zeroes on the scoreboard and everyone was looking around at each other, unwilling to say aloud what was happening. That's back when you didn't mention no hitters by tradition. But it was five innings of zeroes and we thought we were witnessing something special. We were. We were witnessing the debut of a homegrown guy whom we would see become one of the best pitchers in baseball. This, in Cincinnati, who once had Tom Seaver and Mario Soto and few other pitchers of the caliber of Good in its very long history. This, where we watched Paul Wilson and Eric Milton and Pitchers Whose Names We've Forgotten because they were so mediocre or worse.<br /><br />Cueto had ten strikeouts in his debut, if I remember correctly. It was a masterful performance just like last night was masterful, but the first game was so full of hope, whereas last night's game, most likely the last I'll see of Cueto in a Reds uniform, was bittersweet. For me, it was a cap on a magnificent career, one where I saw him pitch in low A and saw his debut and saw him lead our team to two division titles after The Losing Years. We were lucky to get to watch him pitch.<br /><br />I feel like I'm going to a funeral.<br /><br />Baseball is the best game but goddamn it, it breaks your heart in the worst ways.</div>Cathie Gloverhttps://plus.google.com/117089522678135038590noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21666786.post-54898948481734865932015-06-21T21:00:00.000-04:002015-06-23T21:04:07.823-04:00Solstice<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <o:OfficeDocumentSettings> <o:AllowPNG/> </o:OfficeDocumentSettings></xml><![endif]--><br /><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:WordDocument> <w:View>Normal</w:View> <w:Zoom>0</w:Zoom> <w:TrackMoves/> <w:TrackFormatting/> <w:PunctuationKerning/> <w:ValidateAgainstSchemas/> <w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid> <w:IgnoreMixedContent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent> <w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText> <w:DoNotPromoteQF/> <w:LidThemeOther>EN-US</w:LidThemeOther> <w:LidThemeAsian>X-NONE</w:LidThemeAsian> 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mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;} </style><![endif]--> <br /><div class="MsoNormal">I was going to go to the Nats game today. I wanted to walk to the stadium more than I actually wanted to go to the game, because from my new place, I can. I was going to the Nats game yesterday, too, but I decided against it and missed a no hitter. I was actually getting ready to go to the game yesterday but looked out at my potted plants whom I’ve promised for weeks to get into the ground and decided to stay. Of all the times. (No hitter.) </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">I don’t know what it is about this season, but I haven’t been paying attention as much. I mean, moving has something to do with it – a LOT to do with it – having to get pieces of the place because we both had so little before. And I have 2.5 hours of commuting every day (the move cut a half hour out of that, hallelujah.) The Reds stink, so there’s that, too, but I’ve had some frequent Comcast internet problems that have prevented me from watching them. And the Nationals, well, they just don’t have that coveted baseball feeling. They did, once, when they arrived to Washington in 2005, I guess because there was a sense of history there. There isn’t one now – it’s more like going to a Washington happy hour. I watch most of the games, still, but I’ve only been to two so far this season, partially – or mostly – because Chris works at the ballpark now and can’t go to games with me, but also because I just haven’t wanted to go as much. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">But somehow, tonight, on the day after the solstice, when the sky is still light until 9pm and the temperature is perfect, as my hands and legs are covered in dirt from gardening but I refuse to waste even a second of this beautiful night to wash it off inside, somehow now I think of baseball.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">This is my favorite time of year when there is more light now than all year long. It’s not the same as growing up in Ohio, though, because we are on opposite sides of the time zone, and in Washington, we only get until 9pm whereas in Ohio it’s light until 10. One of my goals in life is to someday attend the 24 hour baseball tournament that happens in Alaska with its endless daylight. What could be better than 24 hours or so of baseball? Once I had the great fortune of traveling to Edinburgh, Scotland from London on the summer solstice. We took an overnight bus. It was light until midnight, and I got to see the Northern Lights. Everyone should see that in their lifetime, and if you don’t want to, you might as well be dead, because you certainly aren’t living. I fell asleep on the bus (that was supposed to be the intention) and woke up when it was totally light out – at 3am.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span>It was the strangest thing. And awesome.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">We live close enough to the Marine barracks to hear the bugle at dusk. It’s a wonderful way to move into night. The fireflies are out; they are the only bug that I will touch on purpose, which I think is odd, because so many others are perfectly harmless. I remember in the fields in Ohio the thousands of lightning bugs, as I called them then, and still marvel at them today if I am back there. I can only see dozens at the moment. Right now, though, it seems like enough.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">The sky is pink now, the light is waning and I am thinking about baseball on the banks of the Ohio River and the ugly cookie cutter stadium that was the best place on earth and the endless ramps to walk up with the squishy black stuff and the sticky summer days with the ten o’clock night times, back when people weren’t so addicted to air conditioning and they actually could enjoy an evening like I am enjoying it now, with the silhouettes of chimneys in front of the pink sky backdrops and a single visible star in the still blue sky and the white fluffy clouds floating overhead and for a moment that is all too fleeting, everything is perfect.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div></div>Cathie Gloverhttps://plus.google.com/117089522678135038590noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21666786.post-90355755467339641062015-03-22T20:18:00.002-04:002015-03-22T20:18:48.210-04:00Brats these days<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">So, baseball.<br /><br />I've not been able to follow Reds Spring Training as much as I usually do for a number of reasons, one being the start time of most of the games. I guess I'll never getting over the Reds' stupid decision to move Spring Training to Arizona. It still makes no sense from a fan point of view, and while I understand the economic sense, it just doesn't seem like they made enough effort to stay in Florida, which benefits the fans. I doubt I will ever go to Spring Training in Arizona. (And frankly, that batshit crazy evil state deserves none of my money.) It's hard enough to even listen to the games.<br /><br />I have been listening to the games from the 4pm start times to the moment I hit the tunnel on my way home from work and lose reception, usually about 5:45.&nbsp; That's a decent chunk of time, but I'm realizing that my attention span when listening to radio games isn't what it used to be, and I've rarely been able to watch for the first hour before I begin my commute because, one, I'm at work and actually have to do work, and two, either the internet in my office is slow and there is a lot of buffering or MLB.TV is up to its usual failures. You'd think after being a subscriber for ten years I'd come to terms with it. I wonder why others don't have the same kind of issues that have plagued me over the years through eight computers, two smartphones, and one tablet. <br /><br />Some of my attention span deficit has to do with my excitement for going to Spain the week of Opening Day (no, I'm not missing Opening Day - I'm leaving the Friday after it.) I haven't traveled anywhere since I went to Italy two years ago, so I am very excited about the trip, which, I admit, is diminishing my enthusiasm for Opening Day a bit. I think social media trolls have also contributed to that, too. Baseball just isn't fun when you have sportswriters calling fans idiots and thinking they are God's gift. It's not fun when you continue to see baseball people in the middle of the country post political idiocy because they don't have a clue how the world works. It's not fun when people incapable of logical thinking demand a trade of one of the best players in baseball because he walks too much and they can't do math. Before the twenty-somethings became twenty-somethings, the internet was a good place, but then the little snowflakes grew up and we see how awful parents in their forties really were at parenting. There was no such thing as a troll back when blogs first began. <br /><br />I've seen the power of social media in other countries, how they've been able to overthrow dictators and protect themselves from tyrannical regimes. Here, social media just seems to be a place where people with average to below average IQs and a sense of entitlement gather to erroneously proclaim their superiority to their equally inane neighbors and people smarter than them. I've tried to purge my Twitter feed of these folks, but they keep popping up anyway. These tools have destroyed our attention spans anyway. The blogosphere was great in the mid-aughts but people stopped being able to read beyond 140 characters and blogs became echo chambers and it was no longer worth the time to write something no one would read. I'm seeing this sentiment in many places these days. A lot of people are giving up on social media, some even returning to their blogs and focusing on what is sadly termed "longform reading" now. It's a sad state of literacy when we have to call writing of substance "longform" and just reiterates the idea that social media is a thoughtless void. (It isn't always, but it does take a lot of time and effort to make it not be.)<br /><br />The movement to shorten baseball games is another symptom of the same problem but so is the reason for the extended length of games. Used to be, back when honor and respect were things in our society, that you got the ball back from the catcher and you threw it again, and you either swung at a pitch or let it go by and set up for the next pitch. Now players who probably don't pick up books complain that they need time to "think" about what pitch to throw or what the pitcher will throw. Get yourself a Lumosity account and speed up your slow brain if you need to take twenty-three seconds between pitches. And get yourself some batting gloves that fit correctly if you think you need to step out of the box between every pitch to readjust them. I don't like the idea of a clock or the other new rules but I guess something had to be done.<br /><br />Another reason I haven't been able to follow the Reds as much this Spring Training is that I can't get the video feed on my phone because MLB.TV decides what devices you can and can't use it on. That's a problem in our society, too, the dominance of two giant corporations - Google and Apple - and their ability to dictate what we can and cannot do. Also a symptom of ADD nation - letting giant corporations step all over consumers because it takes too much effort to fight it. It's the same thing with the telecoms. In my neighborhood, we either have Comcast or Verizon internet. There's no other option. And Comcast is so awful that I'm thinking of filing an FCC complaint.&nbsp; I can't watch MLB.TV on Xfinity because my speeds are so damn slow and Comcast claims there's nothing wrong with it. What the hell am I paying for? I signed up for an upgrade two weeks ago but the guy I talked to didn't actually sign me up and my speeds have been so slow that pages don't load.<br /><br />There are people who are against net neutrality in this country. That's beyond comprehension. These people clearly have no idea what net neutrality is. I wonder if they even use the internet except that they are constantly tweeting about how they are now "oppressed" by the government because the FCC actually made rules that say the telecoms corporations can't restrict what you can see on the internet. You know what oppression is? Oppression is telecoms corporations (who write the bills passed by Congress) controlling what you are allowed to see on the internet and blocking people who don't pay the most from being able to be seen on the internet. Can you imagine doing that with telephones? So you want to call the local hardware store to see if they have a type of potting soil, but because the local hardware store didn't pay the telephone company as much as the giant corporation Home Depot did, you just keep getting a busy signal. But you have no problem getting through to Home Depot.<br /><br />It just floors me how people scream and cry oppression in this country when they don't have a clue what they are talking about.<br /><br />Anyway, the issue of net neutrality is something that would have 99% support if people weren't so hellbent on succumbing to political propaganda . But you know, Obama supports it, so there's a certain segment of the population that is automatically against it even though they'd be screwed by it. Ask one of these people to explain what net neutrality is and they can't. They say it's government controlling the internet. It's actually the exact opposite - it keeps the internet open when corporations wanted to control what you see on the internet. I don't know how it is so misunderstood, but then again, people don't think anymore, they just repeat what they hear on cable news.<br /><br />And on social media. What percentage of people who spout of sabr kind of stats actually understand it? I've seen so many blogs talk about WAR, BABIP, etc, that clearly don't get the math. Same as those who talk about RBI and pitcher wins as if those are gospel. And the sabrbullies who call those who appreciate the traditional aspects of the game some version of moron.<br /><br />I read the Times article today about <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/22/magazine/the-brains-empathy-gap.html?_r=0" target="_blank"><span id="goog_536222222"></span>the empathy gap</a> and the psychology of "The Other" and am thinking about how those <span id="goog_536222223"></span>people who need to read it the most won't because it's too long. Basically it's about a guy who is studying neuroscience to figure out why people don't have empathy for those whom they perceive to be their enemies. He starts off by talking about the Roma in Hungary (who are every bit as discriminated against as African Americans) and how Hungarians agree the Roma should be integrated except when it comes down to actually integrating them. <br /><br />We have to be aware of the empathy gap if we're going to stop the conflict in our lives, whether it be something as awful as war or something as inane as sabrmetrics.<br /><br />But I have no empathy for opponents of net neutrality. To them I say "Get a brain, morans!"<br /><br /></div>Cathie Gloverhttps://plus.google.com/117089522678135038590noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21666786.post-81141364307926442112015-03-01T14:00:00.000-05:002016-03-22T16:41:06.290-04:00There's a reason it's called the National Pastime <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">I recently bought a book called <i>Baseball: The Presidents' Game</i> by William B. Mean and Paul Dickson. The book is about what the title says - a history of the baseball activities of each POTUS - and is full of photos of presidents attending games, posing with players, and having teams over at the White House. (Incidentally, did you know that the first president to have a baseball team over to the White House was Andrew Johnson? Or that he was the first one to dub baseball "Our Nation's Game?") <br /><br />I purchased the book to aid me in my DC Baseball Tours project and because I'm simply interested in the way baseball is intertwined in our nation's history and development. No other sport can say that because no other sport was around when our nation was founded. Baseball and America grew up together. They are childhood friends who have managed to stay in touch, even though America hangs out more with football now. But those two met in college. They don't have the same bond as the duo that was there for each other when soldiers were freezing to death at Valley Forge or the North and South were trying to go through a messy divorce. Heck, baseball is so much a part of our soul as a country that it exists outside the logic of our legal system. In 1922 the Supreme Court ruled in <i>Federal Baseball Club v National League</i> that baseball was a game and not a business, so teams were not participating in interstate commerce and not subject to antitrust laws, a ruling that was upheld half a century later in <i>Flood v Kuhn</i>. While the game that Washington played with his troops at Valley Forge was an early form of baseball and hence is different than the game we love, in our hearts we know that it was still baseball.<br /><br />We've had 43 presidents (FYI - Cleveland served two separate terms, which is why we say Obama is #44.) The National League was formed in 1876 and the American League in 1901. The Federal League existed from 1914 to 1915 and the American Association existed as a major league from 1882-1891. The National Association, which isn't recognized as a major league by Major League Baseball even though it was the first professional league, existed from 1871-1875. I could go through all the teams and pick a favorite for each president as they existed in his time, but since 17 presidents existed before professional baseball was played, I'm going to use current MLB teams to represent what teams each president would root for based on his hometown. <br /><br />While putting this list together, I was thinking about how weird it must be to live in a place without a team within 150 miles of you, or to be at the edge of several teams' markets. Like Syracuse. Are they Yankees fans? Pirates? Even Detroit isn't that far.<br /><br /><b>George Washington</b>, 1789-1797 Washington Nationals (Virginia native)<br /><br /><b>John Adams</b>, 1797-1801 Boston Red Sox (Boston native)<br /><br /><b>Thomas Jefferson</b>, 1801-1809 Washington Nationals (Virginia native, though he didn't think highly of games played with balls, believing them to be too violent for the body.)<br /><br /><b>James Madison</b>, 1809-1817 Washington Nationals (Virginia native)<br /><br /><b>James Monroe</b>, 1817-1825 Washington Nationals (Virginia native)<br /><br /><b>John Quincy Adams</b>, 1825-1829 Boston Red Sox (Boston native)<br /><br /><b>Andrew Jackson</b>, 1829-1837 Atlanta Braves (A Tennessee founder from the Carolinas)<br /><br /><b>Martin Van Buren</b>, 1837-1841 New York Yankees (From a NY village called Kinderhook)<br /><br /><b>William Henry Harrison</b>, 1841 <span style="color: red;">Cincinnati Reds</span> (Though he grew up in Virginia, he was assigned to Ohio as an 18 year old in the Army)<br /><br /><b>John Tyler</b>, 1841-1845 Washington Nationals (Although being from Richmond he could have grown up a Barves fan, being attracted to politics gives the edge to the Nationals.)<br /><b><br /></b><b>James Knox Polk</b>, 1845-1849 Atlanta Braves (He grew up in North Carolina but represented Tennessee.)<br /><br /><b>Zachary Taylor</b>, 1849-1850 Washington Nationals (Virginia native)<br /><br /><b>Millard Fillmore</b>, 1850-1853 New York Yankees (Could be Pirates, Red Sox, or Mets, even, as he's from a town near Syracuse. Admittedly I picked the Yankees because he was such a bad president.)<br /><br /><b>Franklin Pierce</b>, 1853-1857 Boston Red Sox (From New Hampshire)<br /><br /><b>James Buchanan</b>, 1857-1861 Philadelphia Phillies (From Lancaster area)<br /><br /><b>Abraham Lincoln</b>, 1861-1865 Chicago White Sox (I think Abe would have sided more with the working class side of town.)<br /><br /><b>Andrew Johnson</b>, 1865-1869 Atlanta Braves (From Carolinas, moved to Tennessee on foot, spent his professional years there.)<br /><br /><b>Ulysses S. Grant</b>, 1869-1877 <span style="color: red;">Cincinnati Reds</span> (From Cincy area. In 1869, Grant welcomed the first professional baseball team to the White House, the Cincinnati Red Stockings.)<br /><br /><b>Rutherford Birchard Hayes</b>, 1877-1881 <span style="color: red;">Cincinnati Reds</span> (Known Red Stockings fan Hayes and his son kept a journal following the 1869 Cincinnati Red Stockings.)<br /><br /><b>James Abram Garfield</b>, 1881 Cleveland Indians (Cleveland area native)<br /><br /><b>Chester Alan Arthur</b>, 1881-1885 New York Yankees (From Upstate New York)<br /><br /><b>Grover Cleveland</b>, 1885-1889, 1893-1897 New York Yankees (From all over NY, father was from Connecticut.)<br /><br /><b>Benjamin Harrison</b>, 1889-1893 <span style="color: red;">Cincinnati Reds</span> (A known Reds fan who was the first to attend an MLB game, an NL contest in DC in which the Reds defeated the Washington Senators 7-4.)<br /><br /><b>William McKinley</b>, 1897-1901 Cleveland Indians (From NE Ohio)<br /><br /><b>Theodore Roosevelt</b>, 1901-1909 New York Yankees (He was from a Manhattan family of means and married a NYC socialite, hence the choice for Yankees. In reality, he wasn't a big baseball fan.)<br /><br /><b>William Howard Taft</b>, 1909-1913 <span style="color: red;">Cincinnati Reds</span> (A known Cincinnati baseball fan who was the first to thrown out a first pitch.)<br /><br /><b>Woodrow Wilson</b>, 1913-1921 Atlanta Braves (He grew up in the South. Wilson may be considered the first fantasy baseball player, he was so obsessed with stats.)<br /><br /><b>Warren Gamaliel Harding</b>, 1921-1923 Cleveland Indians (From just above Columbus, he's in territory that is not without its share of Reds fans.)<br /><br /><b>Calvin Coolidge</b>, 1923-1929 New York Yankees One of the worst presidents in history, he grew up in New England, but saw a bunch of Yankees games in DC. Probably was a bandwagon Senators fan, too.)<br /><br /><b>Herbert Clark Hoover</b>, 1929-1933 Tough to call. (Hoover was a terrible president but a huge baseball fan. He grew up all over the country but judging from his <a href="http://www.baseball-almanac.com/prz_chh.shtml" target="_blank">attendance records</a> as president, he could have been a Philadelphia A's fan, although they booed him mercilessly at one game. Maybe he would have been a Nats fan.)<br /><br /><b>Franklin Delano Roosevelt</b>, 1933-1945 New York Giants (FDR <a href="https://www.archives.gov/publications/prologue/2002/spring/greenlight.html" target="_blank">loved baseball</a> and the Giants. I guess he'd be a Mets fan today.)<br /><br /><b>Harry S. Truman</b>, 1945-1953 <a href="https://sportslifer.wordpress.com/2008/08/02/harry-truman-great-president-not-much-of-a-ballplayer/" target="_blank">St. Louis Cardinals</a> (Truman attended more games as POTUS (16) than any other, all in Washington. He could have been a Nationals fan, but he grew up in Independence.)<br /><b><br /></b><b>Dwight David Eisenhower</b>, 1953-1961 Kansas City Royals (I know that Kansas City is in Missouri, but it's the closest team to the place in Kansas where Ike was from. Ike <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eisenhower_baseball_controversy" target="_blank">may have played</a> semi-pro ball in a Kansas league before attending West Point.)<br /><br /><b>John Fitzgerald Kennedy</b>, 1961-1963 Boston Red Sox (The quintessential New Englander. Although he liked football more than baseball.)<br /><br /><b>Lyndon Baines Johnson</b>, 1963-1969 Houston Astros (Doesn't seem to be much of a baseball fan.)<br /><br /><b>Richard Milhous Nixon</b>, 1969-1974 Los Angeles Angels (Tricky dick was a <a href="http://articles.chicagotribune.com/1994-05-01/sports/9405010093_1_angels-executive-college-football-real-fan" target="_blank">big baseball fan</a> who grew up in the Anaheim area. He attended a few Angels games as POTUS.)<br /><br /><b>Gerald Rudolph Ford</b>, 1974-1977 Detroit Tigers (He was raised in Grand Rapids.)<br /><b><br /></b><b>James Earl Carter, Jr.</b>, 1977-1981 Atlanta Braves (He's <a href="http://m.mlb.com/cutfour/2015/09/17/150178084/jimmy-carter-appears-on-braves-kiss-cam" target="_blank">frequently seen</a> at Barves games.)<br /><br /><b>Ronald Wilson Reagan</b>, 1981-1989 <a href="http://national.suntimes.com/national-world-news/7/72/1956303/cubs-nlcs-ronald-reagan-wrigley-field/" target="_blank">Chicago Cubs</a> (He was born in Illinois and called Cubs games on the radio in the thirties.)<br /><br /><b>George Herbert Walker Bush</b>, 1989-1993 Houston Astros (A staple behind home plate when he was healthy.)<br /><br /><b>William Jefferson Clinton</b>, 1993-2001 St. Louis Cardinals (<a href="http://www.stlmag.com/Q-A-A-Conversation-With-Bill-Clinton/" target="_blank">That's a shame</a>.)<br /><br /><b>George Walker Bush</b>, 2001-2009 Houston Astros (Rangers ownership aside.)<br /><br /><b>Barack Hussein Obama</b>, 2009-2017 Chicago White Sox<br /><br /><br />If you know of any president who was actually a fan of a team and I got it wrong, let me know. A lot of this is just imagination. </div>Cathie Gloverhttps://plus.google.com/117089522678135038590noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21666786.post-46676325241080123672015-02-28T11:45:00.000-05:002015-02-28T11:49:43.602-05:00General managing trolls<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-n8u03sfijP4/VPHxB8akDpI/AAAAAAAAGls/BFOVgObf6a4/s1600/reds%2Btroll.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-n8u03sfijP4/VPHxB8akDpI/AAAAAAAAGls/BFOVgObf6a4/s1600/reds%2Btroll.JPG" /></a></div>It must be tough to be a GM these days, at least as tough as a politician. (Yes, good politicians do exist, even in our mess of a system.) Most of these old white guys grew up before Bill James became Jesus and RBIs were still a measure of offensive prowess. Suddenly, an explosion of data appeared like the Word of God and whole teams of apostles had to be hired to sift through it all, unless of course they weren’t hired and the Stat Bible was ignored, which it was and still is by a few dinosaurs. <br /><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><br />Baseball is a guessing game, and an entire industry is dedicated to making the appropriate guesses. Everything’s a gamble, from choosing what players you want for your team to choosing what pitch to throw. Some of it can be better predicted through probability, but you can’t predict whether or not a guy will be able to make it in the big leagues. There are too many non-data variables involved – freak injuries, mental ineptitude, lack of desire…whatever happens is largely beyond your control. Then, of course, you hear no end of it, how a guy was a bad draft pick and you could tell he was going to be injured by his motion and blah blah blah. These folks just like to hear themselves talk. As the wise Forrest Gump once said, “it happens.” Math isn't the answer to everything.</div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><br /></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing">Not only do you have to choose your personnel, but you have to deal with all the BS, the salary limitations, the labor disputes, the arbitration, and all the things that have nothing to do with the game itself except that these things affect the happiness and well-being of the players. The personalities, well, that’s a whole other issue. Managing a bunch of millionaires is probably worse than managing a regular office. You have to deal with a lot of people who feel entitled to this or that by virtue of the tax bracket they’re in. Then there are those for whom the spotlight turns them into prima donnas, and everything - even what kind of brand of fruit is provided in the clubhouse - becomes some sort of drama.</div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><br /></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing">But the worst, the absolute worst of it all must be dealing with the fans, specifically the nutjobs who think they could do a better job. There are certain things that a fan can observe and then there is everything else. The Reds did very little this off season despite having a few obvious and pretty big flaws, and that is frustrating. We don’t know what our GM tried to do; we only know what he did do.</div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><br /></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing">Sure, it’s fun to speculate and say Mr. GM Man should have done this or should do that, but there’s a difference between speculation or occasional criticism to the full-time job of complaining that a lot of fans do. I wonder about the lives of these people. Are they so empty, so dull, that they can find nothing better to do with their time? </div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><br /></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing">Social media has given a voice to the inane and the insane. It can be pretty disheartening at times. Just enjoy the game.</div><br /></div>Cathie Gloverhttps://plus.google.com/117089522678135038590noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21666786.post-9713445646777310632015-02-24T19:05:00.001-05:002015-02-24T21:00:25.864-05:00I’m Latos with this post, but here goes<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <o:OfficeDocumentSettings> <o:AllowPNG/> </o:OfficeDocumentSettings></xml><![endif]--><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-gIG2oKtjxJ4/VO0ShoDDHDI/AAAAAAAAGlY/T1D9-LlG5vs/s1600/mat-latos-shark-fishing.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-gIG2oKtjxJ4/VO0ShoDDHDI/AAAAAAAAGlY/T1D9-LlG5vs/s1600/mat-latos-shark-fishing.jpg" height="320" width="318" /></a></div><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:WordDocument> <w:View>Normal</w:View> <w:Zoom>0</w:Zoom> <w:TrackMoves/> 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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true" Name="List Continue 3"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true" Name="List Continue 4"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true" Name="List Continue 5"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true" Name="Message Header"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="11" QFormat="true" Name="Subtitle"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true" Name="Salutation"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true" Name="Date"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true" Name="Body Text First Indent"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true" Name="Body Text First Indent 2"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true" Name="Note Heading"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true" Name="Body Text 2"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true" Name="Body Text 3"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true" Name="Body Text Indent 2"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true" Name="Body Text Indent 3"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true" Name="Block Text"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true" Name="Hyperlink"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true" Name="FollowedHyperlink"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="22" QFormat="true" Name="Strong"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="20" QFormat="true" Name="Emphasis"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true" Name="Document Map"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true" Name="Plain Text"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true" Name="E-mail Signature"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true" Name="HTML Top of Form"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true" Name="HTML Bottom of Form"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true" Name="Normal (Web)"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true" Name="HTML Acronym"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true" Name="HTML Address"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true" Name="HTML Cite"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true" Name="HTML Code"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true" Name="HTML Definition"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true" Name="HTML Keyboard"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true" Name="HTML Preformatted"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true" Name="HTML Sample"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true" Name="HTML Typewriter"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true" Name="HTML Variable"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true" Name="Normal Table"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true" Name="annotation subject"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true" Name="No List"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true" Name="Outline List 1"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true" Name="Outline List 2"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true" Name="Outline List 3"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true" Name="Table Simple 1"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true" Name="Table Simple 2"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true" Name="Table Simple 3"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true" Name="Table Classic 1"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true" Name="Table Classic 2"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true" Name="Table Classic 3"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true" Name="Table Classic 4"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true" Name="Table Colorful 1"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true" Name="Table Colorful 2"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true" Name="Table Colorful 3"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true" Name="Table Columns 1"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true" Name="Table Columns 2"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true" Name="Table Columns 3"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true" Name="Table Columns 4"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true" Name="Table Columns 5"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true" Name="Table Grid 1"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true" Name="Table Grid 2"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true" Name="Table Grid 3"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true" Name="Table Grid 4"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true" Name="Table Grid 5"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true" Name="Table Grid 6"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true" Name="Table Grid 7"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true" Name="Table Grid 8"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true" Name="Table List 1"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true" Name="Table List 2"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true" Name="Table List 3"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true" Name="Table List 4"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true" Name="Table List 5"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true" Name="Table List 6"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true" Name="Table List 7"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true" Name="Table List 8"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true" Name="Table 3D effects 1"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true" Name="Table 3D effects 2"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true" Name="Table 3D effects 3"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true" Name="Table Contemporary"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true" Name="Table Elegant"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true" Name="Table Professional"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true" Name="Table Subtle 1"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true" Name="Table Subtle 2"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true" Name="Table Web 1"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true" Name="Table Web 2"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true" Name="Table Web 3"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true" Name="Balloon Text"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="Table Grid"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true" Name="Table Theme"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" Name="Placeholder Text"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="1" QFormat="true" Name="No Spacing"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" Name="Medium List 2"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" Name="Medium Grid 2"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading Accent 1"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List Accent 1"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid Accent 1"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 1"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 1"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 1"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" Name="Revision"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="34" QFormat="true" Name="List Paragraph"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="29" QFormat="true" Name="Quote"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="30" QFormat="true" Name="Intense Quote"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 1"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 1"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 1"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 1"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List Accent 1"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 1"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List Accent 1"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 1"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading Accent 2"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List Accent 2"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid Accent 2"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 2"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 2"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 2"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 2"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 2"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 2"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 2"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List Accent 2"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 2"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List Accent 2"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 2"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading Accent 3"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List Accent 3"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid Accent 3"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 3"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 3"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 3"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 3"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 3"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 3"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 3"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List Accent 3"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 3"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List Accent 3"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 3"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading Accent 4"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List Accent 4"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid Accent 4"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 4"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 4"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 4"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 4"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 4"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 4"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 4"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List Accent 4"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 4"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List Accent 4"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 4"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading Accent 5"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List Accent 5"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid Accent 5"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 5"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 5"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 5"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 5"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 5"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 5"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 5"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List Accent 5"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 5"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List Accent 5"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 5"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading Accent 6"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List Accent 6"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid Accent 6"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 6"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 6"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 6"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 6"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 6"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 6"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 6"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List Accent 6"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 6"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List Accent 6"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 6"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="19" QFormat="true" Name="Subtle Emphasis"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="21" QFormat="true" Name="Intense Emphasis"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="31" QFormat="true" Name="Subtle Reference"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="32" QFormat="true" Name="Intense Reference"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="33" QFormat="true" Name="Book Title"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="37" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true" Name="Bibliography"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true" QFormat="true" Name="TOC Heading"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="41" Name="Plain Table 1"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="42" Name="Plain Table 2"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="43" Name="Plain Table 3"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="44" Name="Plain Table 4"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="45" Name="Plain Table 5"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="40" Name="Grid Table Light"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46" Name="Grid Table 1 Light"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="Grid Table 2"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="Grid Table 3"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="Grid Table 4"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="Grid Table 5 Dark"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51" Name="Grid Table 6 Colorful"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52" Name="Grid Table 7 Colorful"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46" Name="Grid Table 1 Light Accent 1"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="Grid Table 2 Accent 1"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="Grid Table 3 Accent 1"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="Grid Table 4 Accent 1"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="Grid Table 5 Dark Accent 1"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51" Name="Grid Table 6 Colorful Accent 1"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52" Name="Grid Table 7 Colorful Accent 1"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46" Name="Grid Table 1 Light Accent 2"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="Grid Table 2 Accent 2"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="Grid Table 3 Accent 2"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="Grid Table 4 Accent 2"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="Grid Table 5 Dark Accent 2"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51" Name="Grid Table 6 Colorful Accent 2"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52" Name="Grid Table 7 Colorful Accent 2"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46" Name="Grid Table 1 Light Accent 3"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="Grid Table 2 Accent 3"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="Grid Table 3 Accent 3"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="Grid Table 4 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Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="Grid Table 3 Accent 5"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="Grid Table 4 Accent 5"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="Grid Table 5 Dark Accent 5"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51" Name="Grid Table 6 Colorful Accent 5"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52" Name="Grid Table 7 Colorful Accent 5"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46" Name="Grid Table 1 Light Accent 6"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="Grid Table 2 Accent 6"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="Grid Table 3 Accent 6"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="Grid Table 4 Accent 6"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="Grid Table 5 Dark Accent 6"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51" Name="Grid Table 6 Colorful Accent 6"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52" Name="Grid Table 7 Colorful Accent 6"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46" Name="List Table 1 Light"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="List Table 2"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="List Table 3"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="List Table 4"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="List Table 5 Dark"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51" Name="List Table 6 Colorful"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52" Name="List Table 7 Colorful"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46" Name="List Table 1 Light Accent 1"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="List Table 2 Accent 1"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="List Table 3 Accent 1"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="List Table 4 Accent 1"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="List Table 5 Dark Accent 1"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51" Name="List Table 6 Colorful Accent 1"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52" Name="List Table 7 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Locked="false" Priority="51" Name="List Table 6 Colorful Accent 3"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52" Name="List Table 7 Colorful Accent 3"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46" Name="List Table 1 Light Accent 4"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="List Table 2 Accent 4"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="List Table 3 Accent 4"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="List Table 4 Accent 4"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="List Table 5 Dark Accent 4"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51" Name="List Table 6 Colorful Accent 4"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52" Name="List Table 7 Colorful Accent 4"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46" Name="List Table 1 Light Accent 5"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="List Table 2 Accent 5"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="List Table 3 Accent 5"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="List Table 4 Accent 5"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="List Table 5 Dark Accent 5"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51" Name="List Table 6 Colorful Accent 5"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52" Name="List Table 7 Colorful Accent 5"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46" Name="List Table 1 Light Accent 6"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="List Table 2 Accent 6"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="List Table 3 Accent 6"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="List Table 4 Accent 6"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="List Table 5 Dark Accent 6"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51" Name="List Table 6 Colorful Accent 6"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52" Name="List Table 7 Colorful Accent 6"/> </w:LatentStyles></xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 10]><style> /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin-top:0in; mso-para-margin-right:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:8.0pt; mso-para-margin-left:0in; line-height:107%; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:11.0pt; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;} </style><![endif]-->I read with some interest the comments Mat Latos said about the Reds’ clubhouse, because I’d been wondering myself if there were issues there dating back to 2013 when Tom Brady stopped by Cincinnati and deflated the team in September.<br /><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing">The sabrbullies, most of whom were never good enough athletes to play serious ball (BURN), like to mock the concept of “intangibles” such as “veteran presence” and “leadership.” One has to wonder if these sad creatures have ever been a part of a team of any kind at all. In this thing we call human nature, there are four types of people – leaders, followers, the clueless, and hermits. This is true in all aspects of life, whether you’re talking about a sports team, a corporation, a political party, or even a circle of friends. (Although I guess if you’re a hermit you’re probably not part of a circle of friends.) </div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><br /></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing">Now, Latos may not have been well-liked in the clubhouse (was he?), and speaking out like that through the media is a total dick move, but that doesn’t mean his comments don’t hold some truth. Doesn't mean they do, either. We’ve seen how flat the Reds can seem too many times. I don’t know why he wasn’t liked, or at least why he felt he wasn't liked, but I can take some guesses. I'm trying to figure out why he said those things. Some possibilities:</div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><br /></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing">1. Latos is really a pain in the ass and is pissed that he didn’t have a great season. Maybe he’s blaming everyone else. I don’t remember it, but someone mentioned that he made some comments about the Padres when he left them, too. He could just be a bonafide jerk. I want to believe that isn’t the case, but his comments make him come across as a dick. I’m not going to dismiss him or what he said because I wasn’t there. We weren’t there. If my team at work were dicking around in my office and playing video games instead of preparing for the job, I’d be pissed off, too. But this could have been exaggerated. Bottom line is, we don’t know.</div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><br /></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing">2. Mat and his wife Dallas are liberal-minded people in a sport dominated by white country boys and foreign nationals from various conservative Catholic countries south of the US border. The couple supports the NoH8 campaign and various noble causes that traditional folks may reject. I don’t know Mat or Dallas, but as someone who is well-versed in the arts and follies of politics, I have seen countless personality clashes based on such differences. I am not saying this is the case at all. How could I? I’ve never been in the clubhouse and I don’t know any of the players. I only know what I see in the media and from their own social networking accounts. Dallas had a pretty good blog that gave us a great idea what life is like in a Major League household, and she always spoke her mind even when it wasn’t popular. She received a lot of hate mail because there is a lot of hate in this world and because she lived in a part of the country where hate thrives openly when you are on the liberal side of things. People say Mat didn’t “fit in.” I’m not sure what is meant by that, but I take it to mean the clubhouse was a homogenous sort and that very well could have driven complacency. For that matter, Brandon Phillips has never really "fit in," either, and he was once deemed a "clubhouse cancer," but that may have been a case of certain media folks getting their wittle feewings hurt because he wouldn't talk to them.</div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><br /></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing">3. Latos tried to be a leader in the clubhouse and to make his teammates get off their asses but was scoffed at. Perhaps they thought him too bossy or that he complained too much. His leadership skills may be lacking, or maybe there are some really lazy players on our team. I find that hard to believe. However, not everyone is blessed with leadership qualities, and their shortcomings could come across as barking. Maybe he's just more intense than the other guys.</div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><br /></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing">4. Latos didn’t get along with one of the popular players on the team, and players took that player’s side in things. High school never ends for some people; popularity is still a thing with them. To that I say, grow up.</div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><br /></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing">5. Because Latos wasn’t on the 2010 playoff team and wasn’t homegrown, he was from day one viewed as an outsider. Think about it. Most of our guys have played together for a long time, or they shared experiences in the same minor league cities. Maybe it's tough to break into the friendship circles that have formed over the years.&nbsp;</div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><br /></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing">6. The real story about his injury is that Homer Bailey shot him with a crossbow and he's still mad at him. This is probably most likely.</div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><br /></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing">Regardless of what it was, I feel like he could be right about the lack of leadership. While I can’t know why he didn’t try to step up and fill that role or if he tried and failed to do so, I could believe him. Too many times in the last couple of years we’ve watched the lifeless Reds seemingly go through the motions, and I’m reminded of how Barry Larkin could fire up the players and how he would hold closed door team meetings when times were bad and the players were performing poorly. He would kick any videogame playing slacker’s butt if it were interfering with his preparation for a game. If that's really what was going on.</div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><br /></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing">Scott Rolen was one of my least favorite players before he came to the Reds, and even then it took some getting used to before I could accept him on our team. But I came to realize just how valuable he was as the 2010 season wore on and we were poised to make our first postseason in a decade and a half. Veteran presence. Leadership. It can make the difference between winning the division (2010, 2012) and barely getting a wild card (2013) or not getting close (2014). Don’t let anyone tell you otherwise.</div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><br /></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing">As for the medical comments, there is a joke in Redsland about Dr. Kremchek’s “poking stick.” I’m no doctor, but there is a certain reputation among us know-nothings that something isn’t kosher with Reds medical diagnoses. Latos isn’t the first to complain about the medical staff. (Though I think Jim Edmonds was just a Taint Louis whiner...) Other players love him. Who knows what’s really going on except the people with medical degress who have access to the clubhouse? </div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><br /></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing">One thing that I’ve come to realize impresses me early on is Marlon Byrd speaking up about Latos’s comments before he even put on a Cincinnati uniform. It’s a good sign, not only because he already is defending his new teammates, but because it shows the leadership he is said to possess, one reason he was signed over more productive options, at least from what I've read. I was not a fan of the signing – an aged veteran with a couple of decent seasons and a marginal upgrade from Ludwick in terms of offensive production doesn’t seem to be the answer to the Reds offensive woes. But he’s been around. I’ve heard that he’s respected throughout the league. I have to think his contributions to the team are felt greater in the clubhouse than on the field. </div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><br /></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing">Remember, in 2013 we noticed a lack of “fire” in the team and blamed Dusty for not firing up his players. We questioned the team’s motivation and wondered where the leadership was. Latos’s comments come as no surprise, and maybe it’s better that he did speak up. Maybe it can serve as early motivation. Something should, because with the schedule being the way it is this year, this season could be over in April if we lose too many games to the NL Central teams. Toughest division in baseball again, and now all five teams can compete.</div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><br /></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing">Who knows? We’re not in that clubhouse. Only our red-socked club of millionaires can create the kind of environment that is conducive to winning. Hopefully, the poison has been drained from the team and they’ll bust out of the gate with the kind of fire that we’ve wanted to see in them. Regardless, we’re all ready to get this thing started. Life is miserable in the absence of baseball.</div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><br /><a href="http://click.linksynergy.com/fs-bin/click?id=w4Ag4HT1xA0&offerid=364005.4&subid=0&type=4"><IMG border="0" alt="Level 99 Denim" src="http://ad.linksynergy.com/fs-bin/show?id=w4Ag4HT1xA0&bids=364005.4&subid=0&type=4&gridnum=1"></a></div></div>Cathie Gloverhttps://plus.google.com/117089522678135038590noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21666786.post-82572523450598575572015-02-21T11:00:00.000-05:002015-02-21T11:00:02.154-05:0010 ways MLB could go further to help pace of the game<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">So I published a listicle yesterday, because conventional digital media experty wisdom says that listicles are read more than things with a lot of words strung together in these things we used to call paragraphs. Well, that's not really why. I just felt like doing a smart alecky type of thing and well, I am gonna do it again because FREEDOM!, you know?<br /><br />Yesterday MLB decided it was going to CHANGE EVERYTHING and make us all <a href="http://hardballtalk.nbcsports.com/2015/02/20/mat-latos-hates-the-new-pace-of-play-rules-properly-cooked-hamburgers/" target="_blank">eat raw hamburgers</a> by speeding up the "pace of the game." Truth be told, and that's Truth with a capital T though you can't tell because it was the first word in this sentence, the "pace of the game" has gotten pretty ridiculous, because, you know, batting gloves. It doesn't have anything to do with the fifty gajillion commercials to which we are subjected after every three outs and sometimes even between outs when managers decide they need to let everyone play and use more than one pitcher in an inning. Chalk it up to our snowflake culture, I suppose.<br /><br />While one foot in the box, timers, and challenges might have some effect on "pace of the game," here are some suggestions to make the game even faster.<br /><br />10. Instead of four balls or three strikes, give Jonathan Broxton, John Axford, Joaquin Benoit, and Joel Peralta a timed at bat. If they can't finish a batter by that amount of time, the batter automatically takes his base. People more inclined to do frivolous math can decide on the time limit. Heck, why limit it to just the slowest of the slow? Time limits for everyone!<br /><br />9. Make uniforms skin tight onesies. Though it might offend the more prudent-minded fans to see the human body in the clothed state closest to nude, wearing fitted clothing will shave seconds off the lengthiness of a game by eliminating the need to adjust any part of the uniform.<br /><br />8. Move the bases closer together. Sure, you'd be putting the lives of infielders in danger, but just imagine how many minutes you could save by cutting off two or three seconds each time a player runs to a base!<br /><br />7. Instead of the fifty "Support the Troops!(TM)" between-inning lovefests, let our soldiers, sailors, airmen, and marines play an inning. You'll get to do your patriotic clapping for at least a solid 15 minutes, and we can cut down on time between innings, because remember, <i>commercials have nothing to do with the "pace of the game."</i><br /><br />6. Penalize any batter who touches anything other than his bat with a strike. No batting gloves, no helmet, no cup adjustment. Just the bat.<br /><br />5. Add a 26th man as a designated runner. Allow him to enter the game as many times as is necessary to keep the Molina brothers off the bases. We'll get to go home when it's still light out if this is implemented properly.<br /><br />4. Put a twenty second time limit on home run trots. Imagine a game in which David Ortiz and Hanley Ramirez both hit home runs. That's 20 seconds saved in one game, as they each take half a minute to get around the bases. <br /><br />3. Require all players to wear Google Glass. I don't know how this would speed up the game, but it would look funny.<br /><br />2. Turn off the hot water to the showers after 3 hours and 15 minutes. What better way to motivate players than to threaten them with cold showers?<br /><br />1. Put shatter proof glass along the foul lines all the way up to the top of the foul poles and eliminate foul balls. No more ten pitch at bats - it's a free for all! Just think of how much time it will save - they'll have time to ADD more commercials. That's great! Higher revenues = higher salaries! Never mind the inevitable deaths that will result to the fielders unfortunate enough to be the recipients of a ricochet! PACE. OF. THE. GAME.<br /><br /><br /></div>Cathie Gloverhttps://plus.google.com/117089522678135038590noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21666786.post-32380902345549088432015-02-20T11:00:00.000-05:002015-02-20T11:14:51.177-05:00The ten most annoying things in baseball that must go<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">Oh, look! A listicle! Thank god for listicles, cuz what would we do for reading otherwise?<br /><br />As the title says, there are a few annoying things about baseball. Most of them have developed in the last decade. I've written them in a listicle because that's how you're supposed to write everything these days unless you're talking about WAR, OPS, or BEBOPALUBOP+. Without further ado:<br /><br /><b>10. Formulaic beat writing that could be produced by a software program</b><br /><br />Used to be, writers were writers. They could make you feel like you were there with the written word. You felt the tension of the at bats, the breathing of the crowds, and the slight breeze coming in from leftfield. You smelled the hot dogs and the freshly mowed grass and you heard the thump of a fastball blowing by a hitter. Now, you get game recaps thrown together in an hour because deadlines, and there's a real dearth of quality. Heck, I don't read many game recaps anymore. I do appreciate Tom Boswell, though.&nbsp; I <i>want</i> to believe.<br /><br /><b>9. Space Wars Night, Anniversary of Player's First MLB Turd Night, Plastic Junk from China Night, etc.</b><br /><br />Promotions have gotten out of control. Insane people line up three hours before a game to get a cheaply made bobblehead whose only key to the supposed identity of the likeness is the name on the back of the jersey. We have people dressing up in costumes that aren't remotely related to baseball, teams issuing stupid uniforms for some stupid idea an intern probably came up with, teams giving out all kinds of junk that people throw in their closets to collect dust. Whatever happened to team photo day? What every happened to baseball card day? There used to be a few promos a year. Now there's one every other day. Why does everything have to be commemorated? Everything is so "memorable" that nothing is memorable anymore. Just watch the game.<br /><br /><b>8. Craft beer madness</b><br /><br />You don't need sixty choices of beer when you go to a baseball game. You don't even need ten choices. And most of those choices aren't even good. Liquified hops. I mean, they're so much the opposite of Crud Light that they almost are Crud Light. They go full circle.<br /><br />Now, I don't like bad beer. People made fun of me in college because I wouldn't drink crap beer. Back then, we were called "beer snobs" and were looked down upon. Some of the same people who looked down on me for preferring imports and domestic premiums now look down upon those who drink what they used to drink back then. Btw, I would never drink Crud Light at a bar, but at a baseball game? 'Merca! <br /><br />And while we're on the topic of beer, how about you Nationals fans actually watching a game for once instead of spending all of the your time in the bars?<br /><br /><b>7. Rain delays with no rain</b><br /><br />This is getting out of hand. Forget your fancy radars. Use your eyes. Play the game until it's too wet to play. I've been to three games in the last couple of years when there was a rain delay with no rain. I've seen several others on television. No one is going to melt if they get a few drops of water on them.<br /><br /><b>6. Bitching about broadcasters</b><br /><br />Does Thom Brennaman say annoying things sometimes? Of course. Does Marty Brennaman criticize some players too much? Definitely. But I'd rather hear Thom be annoying all of the time and Marty criticize everyone than put up with the incessant whining about how bad the announcers are. Learn to tune it out, mute it, or don't watch/listen. You're ruining the game for everyone, including yourself.<br /><b><br /></b><b>5. Rooting for outs</b><br /><br />Some players strike out a lot and they don't get on base other times. This is not the type of player you want on your team unless he's like Brooks Robinson in the field. Some players don't strike out very often but they also don't get on base that much. These players are equivalent to each other. Other players strike out a lot but get on base four out of ten times. These are the players you want on your team. Why are you rooting for the player who makes more outs just because he strikes out fewer times than the guy who doesn't get out as much? And why do you refuse to see there is no logic to what you say?<br /><br />That being said...<br /><br /><b>4. Sabrbullying</b><br /><br />Look, we're not doubting your math skills. But your caustic criticism of the ill-informed is not witty - it's just mean. You don't have all the answers. You can't even decide on how to measure defensive effectiveness. I loved Bill James's<a href="http://sportsworld.nbcsports.com/bill-james-statistical-revolution/" target="_blank"> takedown</a> of the sabrbullies last year. You've forgotten how to enjoy the game for the game. Not everything is about numbers. There's nothing wrong with letting yourself feel the romance or nostalgia of it all.<br /><br />And by the way, wins do matter. Sure, a guy who goes 13-14 may have played for a bad team, but four or five fewer runs in a season may have given him a winning record. That could have been one bad inning that he brought upon himself. And that guy who went 15-5? I want him on my team.<br /><br /><b>3. God Bless America and other faux patriotism displays</b><br /><br />We get it. You love America. You've probably never even been anywhere else, but hey, you're the best, right? (If only you knew.) These self-aggrandizing displays of narcissism by people who think serving their country just "isn't for me" and that clapping for soldiers who put their lives at risk somehow makes up for it and is somehow "supporting the troops" is disgusting. If you want to be patriotic, visit Arlington Cemetery or donate to a veterans organization. You might actually learn something about real patriotism.<br /><br /><b>2. Taint Louis Barfnals fans </b><br /><br />We know. 11 World Series rings. You tell us every day. A hundred times. <br /><br /><b>1. Listicles</b><br /><br />&nbsp;Can we please go back to writing well-thought out essays instead of caving into ADD Nation?<br /><br /><br />By the way, if you haven't picked up your copy of Baseball Prospectus 2015 yet, you can get it <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Baseball-Prospectus-2015/dp/1118471458/ref=as_sl_pc_tf_cw?&amp;linkCode=waf&amp;tag=churofbase-20" target="_blank">here</a>.<br /><br /><iframe class="lqxgvkzpzpyxpyjzszjp" frameborder="0" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no" src="//ws-na.amazon-adsystem.com/widgets/q?ServiceVersion=20070822&amp;OneJS=1&amp;Operation=GetAdHtml&amp;MarketPlace=US&amp;source=ss&amp;ref=ss_til&amp;ad_type=product_link&amp;tracking_id=churofbase-20&amp;marketplace=amazon&amp;region=US&amp;placement=1118471458&amp;asins=1118471458&amp;linkId=C3ZKDR6IR3J65HNL&amp;show_border=true&amp;link_opens_in_new_window=true" style="height: 240px; width: 120px;"></iframe></div>Cathie Gloverhttps://plus.google.com/117089522678135038590noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21666786.post-40057420650788050942015-02-19T10:09:00.000-05:002015-02-19T19:50:42.573-05:00When Babe Ruth was still mad at the Red Sox<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-QKI1VgqWmvg/VOaE1dddkmI/AAAAAAAAGk0/ZwiOIyfcD8U/s1600/fenways_greenmonster.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-QKI1VgqWmvg/VOaE1dddkmI/AAAAAAAAGk0/ZwiOIyfcD8U/s1600/fenways_greenmonster.jpeg" height="255" width="320" /></a></div>I went to Fenway Park in 2003 during the last year of the curse. A friend from college had an extra ticket to a Yankees game, so I took the train up from DC and went to Boston for a few days. I never paid him for the ticket, thinking he'd come down and I'd take him to an Orioles game, but he never did. It was the last time I saw him and it still makes me sad.<br /><br />I was flat broke. I had packed up my car and moved to DC two months earlier and was having trouble finding a job - I was freelancing some translation projects but most of them were small change. One earned a good sized check but it took me more than a month to complete it and as it was the only thing I was working on, there wasn't any money coming in. Still, I wasn't going to let a little cash flow problem prevent me from going to see a Yankees-Red Sox game at one of baseball's last cathedrals.<br /><br />The whole experience was overwhelming. I'd been to Wrigley a few times before then but I grew up in the Midwest and Chicago was part of the region - New England was this whole other world that I hadn't even been able to define the first time I went to DC - I thought Maryland was part of it. Boston was the place of pilgrims and tea parties, a place of history books, and I had a difficult time grasping the fact that it was real. Seeing the Wall was like seeing the Eiffel Tower or the Giza pyramids. It was just a wall, but it was so much more than that. It was Teddy Ballgame and Fisk and Yaz, and the ghosts roam there, too, like they did further south before greed tore down the House that Ruth Built.<br /><br />The Yankees-Red Sox rivalry hadn't been ruined by E$PN back then, so there was a magic to the game that you don't typically get during baseball in May. At one point the game was delayed because a fight had broken out somewhere in the outfield stands and it was big enough to be a distraction. I don't remember much about the game itself because it was secondary to the experience of just being there. For awhile after that I thought that it was a dream of mine for just one season to have season tickets and go to every game in Fenway. That was before they started winning all the time and the fans became obnoxious and you saw B hats as far away as Lebanon as I once did.<br /><br />I was only 26 that year and had already traveled extensively and Boston was the closest in America I'd felt to being in a foreign country. Twelve years later, it still feels foreign to me, way up there in the corner between civilization and the North Pole, or so it seems. I can't pretend to know what Boston is like despite having visited, and my idea remains that of a giant Irish pub with a Red Sox game on in the corner. I can't judge Fenway based on my one experience but it was one of the best baseball games I've ever been to out of a few hundred in my lifetime.<br /><br />You have to wonder if they're going to have any baseball at all up there this year with this eternal winter.<br /><br /><br /></div>Cathie Gloverhttps://plus.google.com/117089522678135038590noreply@blogger.com0